Passing of Auntie Berry Louis Town

Treasure Beach Forum: Birth, Death, Marriage, Congratulations, etc.: Passing of Auntie Berry Louis Town
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By swabys on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 04:38 pm: Edit Post

I wish to send condolence to all the family of Auntie Berry,we will all miss her.Auntie Berry was a Wonderful and loving woman that we all cherished and her stories of the past times will be missed.Our prayers goes out to her loving sister and brother throught out this difficult time.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 11:06 pm: Edit Post

To the entire family of my wonderful Auntie Berry, my deepest sympathy and condolence. Auntie Berry was a pioneer in Lewis Town and loved my everyone who came in contact with her. She will be missed by everyone, especially by Roddie (dad), aunt Joe & aunt Mazie.
Please keep everyone in your prayers as the family goes through this mourning period.

John & Family


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Agreed on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 - 06:45 pm: Edit Post

Two sisters, actually.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Davis Family on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 01:20 am: Edit Post

Aunt Berry, as she is affectionately called by the old and the young was an exemplary human being. Aunt Berry loved you even if she did not know you; she would say “Aunty Baby”. Aunt Berry, we will miss you dearly. Our dad loved you, Aunty Maisey, Aunt Joe and Uncle Roddy so much that you all started to look alike as you all got older. Today we celebrate your life because you touched so many. Words can’t express what a kind and loving mother, grandmother, great –great grandmother and friend you are. May your memories, wisdom, kindness and laughter forever live in our hearts... God has called you home because he sees that your job on earth is complete, now it is up to us to do the rest. We will forever love you and keep you in our hearts forever.

Please see the "Seniors Dinner" photo on the website of our lovely Aunt Berry.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rebecca on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 07:36 am: Edit Post

I would like to add my condolences to Miss Berry's family. I had the opportunity to meet her and chat with her a bit. She was a lovely, graceful woman.

Please see the Profile of the Month for June 2001 of Miss Berry and her husband Wilfred.

http://treasurebeach.net/guide/pf/pf-0601.htm

Click on the links below for more photos including Miss Berry.

http://treasurebeach.net/guide/pg/gallery/frame.cfm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Retutal on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 07:36 am: Edit Post

To Mrs Doris & Family,

Our Condolances to You and Your Family on the passing of Your Mother. I know that there are no words that we are able to express at this time.

May Love be your shelter and may the beauty of Precious Memories be your comfort through this difficult time.

You are all in our prayers at this difficult time.

From Prudence & Crowe Family.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Kay Moxam on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 08:03 am: Edit Post

My condolences to all on the passing of Auntie Berry, To her kids you had a wonderful mother, She was loving, caring, sharing I could go on and on, We all have wonderful memories of her that we can cherish for a life time, Mommy, Aunt Joe and Uncle Roddy I know it will be hard on you all but god saw her tired and weak little body and did not want her hurting anymore so he called her home as her job on earth was done.
Sleep on auntie Berry and take your rest until we meet in the great tomorrow.

Your Niece,
Kay


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Rose on Thursday, December 13, 2007 - 10:59 am: Edit Post

I wish to send my conolence to all the family of Aunt Berry my prayers are with you at this difficult time .
I love you all Rose

Her Grand Niece
Grand Cayman


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sally James on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 09:49 am: Edit Post

My condolence to the family of Sta Berry- Berry you were a great woman- a very loving person. May your soul rest in peace.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ilean on Friday, December 14, 2007 - 12:34 pm: Edit Post

my condolence going out to miss mazie and the rest of family on the passing of miss berry may god give all the strenght to go on at this sad time may her soul rest in peace.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By zadie on Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 05:58 am: Edit Post

to nandine kayon,sheryl,sorry to hear about the passing of your beloved great granmother staberry my prayer are with you at this difficult time. may her soul rest in peace. zadie.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By NADINE on Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 06:21 am: Edit Post

Words cannot explain how wonderful my great-grand-mother was, she was an exceptional lady in every way. I am extremely proud to have had a marvelous woman as granny Berry that i could call my own.
Granny you are gone from this earth to a better place, it's very hard to know that when i come back to Jamaica i will not be able to see you, to feel, you tell you how much i love you and how very special you are, all i have left of you are memories.
Granny, i can remember all our conversations that we had on the phone you always say that you will never see us again, but you were always the strong one and you kept on going we always see each other the next time, this time it tears me to pieces to think that your words have come to pass and i will never see you again.
There is nothing i would have loved more than for you to see my daughter who is your great- great grandaughter but i guess that i was just a little too late.
Granny, i love you with all of me. I miss you with all of me, life will never be the same without you. You will always be special.Sleep on my dearly beloved until we meet again.

Love always
Nadine (great-gran-daughter)
London


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By theresa on Sunday, December 16, 2007 - 05:41 am: Edit Post

we would like to extend our deepest sympathy to the family love one friends of sta berry. the loss is great but god understand he will give you the strenght to go through this difficult time . sta berry was a very wonderful woman. our prayer are with you may her soul rest in peace. theresa,charlton james.theresa


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Earl on Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 03:36 pm: Edit Post

THE EULOGY

(Delivered by her nephew)

Let me start with the recollections and perceptions of a small boy.

I can see them still: Two slim figures moving briskly through the ‘grass piece’ on their frequent treks from Lewis Town to Sandy Bank.

With a twinkle in their eyes and laughter in their voices, they would march into the house ready to take charge.

That’s how it was with Aunt Jo and Aunt Berry – my mother’s two older sisters - always on hand, to lend a helping hand, particularly after the birth of one of their nieces or nephews, or if anyone of us was sick.

And you know there were many such events… so those trips across “Bog Bush”, as we called it then, were not few and far between!

They were Mommy’s half-sisters, some said, but to my childish mind this could not be!

“Don’t they see that they are whole and not merely half?” I protested with the logic of a three year old.

I denied it then, and I reject it still. Different mothers they might have had but there was nothing half-way about their love.

And so here we gather to celebrate one-third of that unit of love, as she departs just short of a century of life and of giving life and light.

But when did it start?

Well, let’s take a journey back in time… way back in time, to Sunday, February 27, 1910, when Midora Deleon Swaby presented her husband, Frederick, of Billy’s Bay, with Florence Bereta, their second child.

Ninety-seven years later, I asked myself, “What was that day like?” “What was happening then?” I wondered.

So, I flipped through the ancient pages of The Gleaner. It seemed that even that venerable paper stood still for this special birth, because it did not publish an edition on that day!

But I did find the next day’s edition – February 28, 1910 – which covered happenings on the 27th.

It was an intriguing reflection of the times in which young Florence Bereta was born.

You would know that these were the very early days of the automobile, so it was not surprising that in addition to reporting on a huge shipment of codfish, sardines and mackerel from Canada, the paper also announced the arrival of 160 donkeys for sale!

Regrettably, we had a few murders even back then, so news of the trial of the accused in a killing in Trelawny was also prominent on the front page.

Perhaps, the most interesting bit of news gleaned on the 27th of February, 1910, for me, however, was that a new hotel – the luxurious, grand Myrtle Bank Hotel, built on the Kingston waterfront, was now ready for opening.

Now, what was the significance of this development? Well, the Myrtle Bank Hotel went on to play a vibrant and sometimes controversial role in Jamaican high society, in the first half of the 20th Century. Then it went into decline and finally was demolished to make way for new development several decades ago.

So, that luxurious hotel, conceived with lofty ambitions and established for the pleasures of the high and mighty, met its demise much sooner than they might have dreamed.

In the meantime, Aunt Berry, whose origins were much more humble and whose life held no such extravagance, lived on… and on… and on, enjoying a much more enduring luxury - the love of her children, then her grandchildren, and then her great grandchildren. And she had a hand in the rearing of all the grandchildren born in Jamaica.

It was a life that had its early setbacks. Her mother did not live long enough to bring up her four children - Lawrence, Bereta, Rosetta (Aunt Joe) and Raddy.

She, like many women of the times, died early in life, leaving her children to mourn her loss.

Young Berry went to live with Aunt Lou and Uncle Simm in Frenchman.

A distance of a mile or two from her siblings was not enough, however, to sever the bonds of sibling love.

In the meantime, after grieving the loss of his first love, Frederick’s eyes soon caught sight of another beautiful damsel! Margaret James became his second wife, and she gave him six children- Caswell, Melvis, Ivie, Lulu, Gladys and Maisie.

Another son, Charles, who came between the two marriages, died tragically at sea.

This theme of loss was a prominent feature of life for Aunt Berry and the rest of the family.

They lost all but one of the children of her father’s second marriage too early in their lives, leaving Maisie only to accompany the older siblings into their winter years.

Along the way they lost big brother Lawrence in the early 1970s… and then there were four - Aunt Jo, Aunty Berry, Uncle Raddy, and the ‘baby’ of the group, Maisie.

And this baby of the group, my mother, remembers very well, that day when young Bereta married the love of her life, the tall, handsome and dashing Wilfred Ebanks!

Well, she does not recall much of the marriage ceremony, but the reception on the long verandah of her parents’ house still stands out, particularly the feast of bread and jam and soda!

The young couple then spent the greater part of their lives in marital harmony in Lewis Town. They were to be joined in Lewis Town before long by her sister, Aunt Jo and her husband, Lawrence (“Bandy”) Ebanks, who built their house next door. He worked hard at his fishing and farming and she was right there beside him, except for when she worked at Treasure Beach Hotel.

Their union produced 10 children - Mazuka, Gwendolyn, Urah, Adelade, Dorothy, Lenord, Robert, Veon, Deloris and Pearl.

Their joy in their children was mixed with sorrow along the way as they lost Mazuka, Urah and Robert.

Still they forged on, boosted by love of family and faith in the goodness of God.

Pearl, the baby among the children, remembers well the love and humility of her parents. Times were mostly hard and there was not much to spare, but whatever they had, the children were sure to get their fair share, even if it meant the parents had to go without.

Poor she might have been, but Aunt Berry went through life with a million-dollar smile! It was a smile that reflected love of family and neighbour and a contentment that went beyond the material things.

She always sought to highlight the good in others, and if she did not have anything good to say, she would usually not say anything at all.

But she was not hypocritical about it! She just kept her peace rather than say her piece if she thought it would bring others pain. After all, she knew about pain!

And all the while, she had just to look across the fence and there was her sister, Aunt Jo.

It was not surprising and perhaps appropriate therefore that with both their husbands having passed away before them, the two sisters spent the last few years together, in the same bed, in fact, up to the point at which Aunt Berry made her graceful exit.

So, here we are, 97 years after that wonderful day in 1910. It has been a life well lived, in which a little more light was added to our lives.

It was a life blessed by God, as she recognized and acknowledged with gratitude and grace.

It is not often anywhere in the world that you find three siblings living well into their 90’s as has been the case with Aunt Berry, Aunt Jo and Uncle Raddy.
That, in itself, is a remarkable gift, worthy of praise.

And so, we gather, not to mourn, but to acknowledge with joy that she was blessed, and that we were blessed for sharing a part of this special journey with her.


(Earl)