Emma Luevina Booker

Published 3:17 pm Friday, March 21, 2014

Emma Luevina Booker was brought home to loving parents Willie Lucille Booker and Albert Booker, Sr. in Los Angeles, California, on April 4, 1960. She was the only daughter of Willie Lucille Booker, and proud daughter to Albert Booker, Sr. and Reverend Willie Donaldson.

THE PRENTISS HEADLIGHT / Emma Luevina Booker

THE PRENTISS HEADLIGHT / Emma Luevina Booker

When she was five, walking home from school, she was run over by a bus, leaving her permanently disfigured. As a child, she was told that she would never walk again, and that she would never be able to have children. With the help of God, she overcame both adversities and loved to prove to people that she was able to do all the things other people could do.

At the age of 7, she was baptized at Great Shepard Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California.

Email newsletter signup

Growing up, she was quiet, but never let anyone push her around. Growing up with brothers, she learned to be tough and fight for what was right. She was a tomboy who enjoyed being with her brothers.

At the age of sixteen, she became pregnant with her first child. Determined to graduate, Emma graduated French high school in Beaumont, Texas, in 1977, with her 2-month-old daughter, Christina, in the audience.

Once again, Emma overcame adversity and proved people wrong by not just having one child, but three more girls to follow Sheronda, Ashley and Dominique. She was and will always be a very dedicated mother. Family was one thing that Emma enjoyed, and always wanted.

In 1993, Emma uprooted her family from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, in pursuit of a better life for her family. While in Vegas, she met her friend, and made a family out of friends.

Emma suffered for many years with various illnesses; however, she always stayed positive. She also stayed productive earning her duel Bachelor degrees in Human Services and Business Management in 2010, completing another lifelong dream. She also volunteered helping young pregnant mothers get on their feet. She had dreams of opening a home for teenage mothers. Emma was an active member of Vegas Christian Center and was involved in the BOSS Movement where she enjoyed working with the youth in the church. In addition to showing her passion for molding the youth into honorable adults, in 2009 Emma moved to Mississippi with her fiancé Marvel “Sonny” Addison to help raise a young man who was a friend of the family.

On February 12, 2014, God called Emma to become His angel. She leaves behind her fiancé, Marvel “Sonny” Addison; daughters, Christina Booker, Sheronda Barraza, Ashley Lee and Dominique Lee; son-in-law, Miguel Barraza; her granddaughters, Kimani Guerrero and Nyomi Barraza; her brothers, Reverend Albert Booker, Jr. and Christopher Booker; sisters, Beverly Monroe Jackson, Deborah Simmons (Kijon), and Patrice Donaldson, Bernice Donaldson. She also leaves behind a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, and extended family and friends.

She is preceded in death by her mother, Willie Lucille Booker; fathers Reverend Willie Donaldson and Albert Booker, Sr.; and sister, Gwendolyn Hill.