The sad return – St John youth who left home for better returned in casket

The sad return – St John youth who left home for better returned in casket

August 12, 2019 0 By Horace Mills

Daamar Gray’s final trip to his rural St John community in Clarendon was different.

It lacked the merriment that characterized previous visits.

A number of people, still grieving the change, braved the rainfall yesterday to see Gray lying in a red casket – not walking around his community and greeting the people he knew best.

Gray, a 25-year-old electrician, died tragically on June 14 while working at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

His family told The Beacon that there is still uncertainty as to whether the death resulted from electrocution or the injuries Gray sustained when fell after experiencing an electric shock.

Gray suffered a broken neck and back, the family further disclsoed.

He, at the time of death, was employed to MMA Electrical and Telephone Services in Kingston.

Dennesah Cooper, who delivered the eulogy, said news of the tragedy rocked the family and ‘left everyone in disbelief and crying’.

She added that Gay touched many lives and was respectable, independent, ambitious, talkative, stubborn and helpful.

Gray, who was affectionately called Bird because he loved to cry as a child, was also family orientated.

Louise Elson, a relative of the deceased, said: “Bird keep the family together. I have never seen him vex – no, he is not that type of person…”

“Bird did not stay very long with us, but he made an impression on all of us. He is a miracle of change among the family… He was a mediator in the family; Bird was a peacemaker,” Elson further told the congregation inside the Redemption National Church of God in St John.

She added that Gray loved to eat; he also loved his profession as an electrician and was a hard worker.

Gray lived and worked in Kingston up to the time of his death.

He attended St John Basic School, Croft’s Hill Primary School and Kellits High – all in Clarendon, as well as the HEART training institute in the Lluidas Vale area of St Catherine.

Gray, born 14 September 1993, is survived by his mother, four brothers and two sisters. He had a host of other relatives and friends.

Gray was interred on a sloping property in St John. Pall bearers had a tough time negotiating the wet slippery earth, but they managed to safely transport Gray to his new resting place.


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