Essolene Tanner-Waterman, 82, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, passed away on April 17, 2022. Essolene was born on March 28, 1940 to Nathaniel Tanner and Goldie Jones in Creedmoor, North Carolina. In 1959 Essolene graduated from GC Hawley High School and shortly after relocated to Brooklyn, New York with her sister Lizzie and nephew Mark where she was employed for a textile company. A few years later she accepted a position at the Harlem State building making Harlem her home. She was more than happy to be the central figure in the lives of any child in need and took pride in loving and nurturing them. You can say she was a combination of a Harlem Mother Theresa and Madea.. One wrong move and I'll let you use your imagination. When she was not providing for and mothering children in need you can catch her looking out the window on 133rd in Convent with a bag of salted peanuts poured in Pepsi and pork rinds. Her specialty meal was chopped barbeque and it was scumptous. Everyone new not to interupt her stories or her WWF because Sonny Corinthos and The Rock was apart of our family okay! Essolene was vibrant, funny and very well known and respected by all... Even by the bootleg man who sold her the new movie DVD's. There are not enough words in the dictionary to scrape the surface of how phenomonal of a woman she is. I use (the present tense) because her principles exudes to all the souls she touched. Because of her dedication to children, in 1991 she founded The Waterman Family Daycare. She was devoted not only to the children she cared for but to their parents as well.

Essie met and married Wilbur Waterman from that union their son Keith Waterman Sr. was born, she also help raise her nephew Mark Tanner (Tracey) as her own. She raised two daughters Robin Witherspoon and Charlene Miller. Essie also leaves behind one living brother Joe Tanner (MaryLee). Her grandchildren: Jacquelyn, Keith Jr., Mya, Justin, Jason, Tanika, Dominque, Faizah, Frederick. Great Grandchildren Noah, Kenroy, Jaddai, Dylan & Kayla. She shared a very special bond that of a grandmother with Mark's children and grandchildren: Jarrod, Timothy & Mark Jr. Their children : Christopher, Austin, Ayden, Aliyah, Cameron, Caleb, Aubrey & Kaiden.

Essie was preceeded in death by her siblings Jessie (Ruth), Willie (Kaylee), Lizzie (Willie), Vinson (MaggieLee), Goldie (Fred) Ollie (Marlyn) & Jimmy.