Our journalists present a unique and comprehensive review of the life of the deceased as well as burial rites.
Icilda Parker-Dunkley was among people singing her husband’s praise during his burial at New River in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, on what turned out to be a wet Sunday afternoon, September 04. Stanley Overton Dunkley, better known as Waff Waff, 77, who escaped death on previous occasions, passed away on 31 July 2022 while undergoing…
Retired educator Florence Spaulding-Ferguson has been laid to rest at Thetford Park Cemetery in Old Harbour, St Catherine. The 73-year-old lost her battle with stage four uterine cancer on Monday, 27 June 2022, at Linstead Public Hospital where she was admitted for just over a week. A number of people attended her thanksgiving service on…
Despite the pain he feels in losing his mother Jennifer Gidden, 32-year-old Javil-Don Beason told hundreds of mourners that he has found an amount of solace in the fact that he took special care of his mom to the very end. He, being an only child, was taking his mother to Linstead Public Hospital on…
Elitha Newell, flanked by some of her children, joined more than 1,000 mourners in sending off the mountain of a man she wedded 68 years ago, Bishop Percival Alexander Newell. “There are mixed feelings deep down in my heart, but still I have joy,” Mrs Newell told the congregation, dispelling doubt as to whether she…
A weeping Britannie Wilks laid her head on the top of her father’s coffin, still in disbelief that she has lost her only remaining parent, revered for being humble and kind. Evon St Aubyn Wilks, called Blacks and Leon, 45, was found lifeless in his British apartment 10 February 2022. His relatives had raised an…
The passing of Nathlee Jones, due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), has been described as a monumental loss especially to her native Lluidas Vale, St. Catherine, where she was revered for more than her upright gait, stylish attire, and near flawless oratory. She went above and beyond the call of duty, giving decades of stellar…
A clergyman today appealed for an end to badmouthing and callousness; this as he addressed mourners at the burial of a youth who was chopped to death while allegedly stealing goats. “We are living in a society where people are becoming courser and courser everyday,” Bishop Howard Newell lamented. “You sometimes ask yourselves the question:…
ALWAYNE WINROY HYATT, who is said to have worn his ‘Cool Breeze’ alias like a hand in glove, has been interred in a grave that partly replicates a motorcar. The replica conjured up memories of the crash, which claimed the life of the 22-year-old auto mechanic on the evening of April 13, 2021. The car,…
The police’s decision to abruptly stop a pre-burial ceremony for Dexton Brown, also called ‘Lloydie’, did not go down well with some mourners, who descended on San San square in Croft’s Hill, Clarendon, to pay their last respect to a man they loved. Brown, 60, died in a motor vehicle crash in Croft’s Hill on…
The rainy weather aptly reflected the mood of mourners who gathered yesterday, May 5, to witness the interment of their beloved Michael Johnson, better known as ‘Maxi’. He passed away on March 28 at Spanish Town Hospital where he was admitted for less than a month. Johnson had fallen ill in his adopted hometown of…
Mabel Matthews-Chambers, better known as Miss May, has been celebrated as an epitome of kindness and a devout woman of God. The tributes rained down moments before she was interred on Saturday, January 9, roughly five months after she was electrocuted near her home at Top Hill district in Lluidas Vale Division, St. Catherine. The…
A mother’s bawl pierced the atmosphere yesterday at the funeral service for her 20-year-old son and football enthusiast, Mickayle Edward Lawrence, better known as ‘Tappa’. Lawrence, described as industrious and particularly protective of his family and friends, was shot and killed on 11 September 2020. A gunman shot him once in the head while he…
Fitz Albert Bennett, whose aliases included ‘Moses’, could have acquired enormous fortune and fame, but he was unwilling to pay the spiritual price. The 72-year-old was much younger when he, along with two friends, got a big opportunity to do music with Reggae legend Bob Marley in Trench Town, Kingston. But the trio eventually shunned…
Carlton Hamilton was happy to again put his event planning skills to good use, albeit for a sad occasion - the funeral service for 27-year-old police officer Decardo Hylton who was shot dead on the job. Carlton, an uncle-in-law of the deceased, was part of a four-member team that specially decorated the Bread of Life…
The atmosphere was saturated with glowing tributes on Saturday, July 25, when hundreds of people descended on the sun-drenched town of Linstead in St. Catherine to send off slain police constable Decardo Hylton, 27. He is among three officers who died after being shot while trying to apprehend criminals at Horizon Park in the Spanish…
Murder victim Christopher Frazer, better known as Bangs, was buried in his rural community of Lluidas Vale, St. Catherine, amid weeping and warnings that his killers will not go unpunished. The people who sounded the warning included the deceased man’s common-law-wife, Jodi-Ann Campbell, who was also shot during the April 9 attack at her home…
Several young people were among mourners in Linstead, St. Catherine, who bid farewell to 31-year-old handcart vendor Omar Anderson, better known as Brucky, on a grief-filled Sunday afternoon, July 5. The Jamaica Constabulary Force reported that a gunman approached Omar, who was selling food items on Fletcher’s Avenue shortly after mid-day on February 19. The…
On a day when many people were celebrating their mothers, 10 siblings were still grappling with the remnants of grief. They buried their mother – Mary Bryan-Simms, also called Aunt Mary – on the eve of Mother’s Day. She was 92. The matriarch of a relatively large family, Aunt Mary could have gotten one of…
Corporal Doran McKenzie, the soldier who committed a murder suicide in Portmore on January 12, was buried yesterday at his hometown of Ewarton, St. Catherine, amid an appeal for people to reflect on their own lives instead of pass judgment. The mourners, who number about 100, included McKenzie’s wife, his mother, sisters and other close…
The funeral for Triston Rose on Saturday, February 8, descended into chaos caused by a massive crowd’s jostle to see the face of the beloved 28-year-old, who was electrocuted on the job at Sangster International Airport in St. James on December 4 last year. His corpse was brought back to his rural community of Reckford,…
The family of the late Triston Rose, also called Palmer, 28, is getting ready to lay him to rest. It has announced that the thanksgiving service will be held this week Saturday, 8 February 2020, at Reckford New Testament Church of God in Reckford district, Clarendon. The service will commence 11AM. Triston, whose family described…
A number of men cried openly on Monday in Point Hill, St. Catherine, as they recalled being positively influenced by a well-known shoes vendor, Zachariah Brown, better known as Jill, Shoey and World Boss. Brown, a 70-year-old resident of Fairfield in the Point Hill area, died in hospital following a motor vehicle crash that transpired…
Locked in the embrace of two female relatives, Cornel Brown, with tears streaming down his face, stood near the grave of his common-law-wife of roughly two decades - Delores Davis, better known as Miss D. He, along with about 100 people, watched as pall bearers succeeded in a second attempt at getting the pink and…
By Horace Mills, Journalist Louise Mongol-Gunter’s influence in life cut across socioeconomic groups; a fact reflected in the makeup of the crowd that gathered on Saturday, August 17, to send off the businesswoman who operated a wholesale at 6 Fletcher’s Avenue in Linstead, St Catherine. The funeral service for the 87-year-old, affectionately called Miss Lou,…
It’s a route they didn’t have to take, but they took it anyways. A group of pall-bearers on Saturday, August 3, carried the casket bearing the corpse of Princeton Johnson to the exact location where the 24-year-old was shot dead by a cop in the heart of Kellits, Clarendon. People watched from buildings and roadsides…
People attending the funeral service for Janet Hardie, better known as Dian, on Saturday heard how the poverty-stricken ‘girl’ from deep rural St Mary struggled from a roadside shop in her community to become the owner of businesses and posh houses on the island’s north coast. Hardie was shot dead on May 28 during a…
A few hours before sunset on Saturday, Elaine Stephenson used the right hand to give a ‘goodbye’ wave as she - accompanied by female peers, left the graveside of her slain daughter, Janet Hardie - also called Dian. She seemed jovial during the church service, but could not hold back tears at Steer Town Cemetery,…
A number of residents yesterday morning descended on Saint Peter’s Anglican Church in Lluidas Vale, St Catherine, to show their last respect to a businessman who is said to have struggled to become owner of a two-storey commercial and residential building in the heart of the small town. The entrepreneur, Daniel Chin, died in hospital…
Oneil Brown, who died feeling rejected as a result of a skin condition he suffered, has been buried with the caring grandmother who raised him. Brown, 41, had a non-fatal condition known as vitiligo, which causes pale white patches to develop on the skin. His cousin, Petagaye Montgomery, who delivered the eulogy during the funeral…
An energy-packed crowd descended on the Treadways area of Linstead, St Catherine, in an atmosphere filled with glowing tributes and belly-deep weeping on Sunday, April 28. It was an occasion to say goodbye to 25-year-old Kevar Burrell, who died on 18 March 2019 in a truck incident, which transpired at West Indies Alumina Company (WINDALCO)…
