‘Empty Christmas’

WESTERN BUREAU:

Three heartbroken families who lost five members in a devastating crash in Bluefields, Westmoreland, are in a state of increasing dread as Christmas Day draws nearer, knowing that the customary get-togethers filled with merrymaking will not materialise this year.

For them, this festive season is clouded in a pall of gloom and uncertainty as they await the autopsies on the five crash victims to lay them to rest.

Fifteen-year-old schoolgirl Lavecia Forrester and her 39-year-old mother, Petrina Wallace, of Gordon district, Whitehouse, Westmoreland; Oneil Allen, and his mother, 65-year-old Angela Samuel, both of Mount Edgecombe; and 54-year-old Janet Thompson of McAlpine, also in Westmoreland, are those who died in the November 13 accident.

The driver of the taxi in which they were travelling, 47-year-old Delroy Rodney of Belmont district, is currently facing five counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

‘I never even remember ...’

Fifty-five-year-old Eudith Wilson, a janitor, lost her daughter and her granddaughter.

A member of the Church of God of Prophecy in Gordon district, Wilson said her family enjoyed spending Christmas holidays together, feasting on the little they could afford, while having fun.

However, the pain inflicted by the tragic deaths of Lavecia Forrester and Petrina Wallace has not left the family with much room to even carry out their usual practices of purchasing new curtains, bedspreads or making provisions for a special Christmas family dinner.

“The emptiness that has come with my daughter and granddaughter has not given us the opportunity to make any plans for Christmas as in former years,” Wilson said.

The tragedy threw her world into a tailspin, she said, adding that she only became conscious that it was the festive season by way of carol service at the New Hope Primary School where she works.

“I never even remember that we are in the period of Christmas. It was while I was at work I heard them talking about carol service. That’s when I remembered that it’s Christmastime,” Wilson told The Gleaner.

“In my head, I have been making plans to bury my daughter and granddaughter, but I can’t do anything until the autopsy is done and we are not sure of when that will be,” she stated, adding that she also does not have enough funds to cover the funeral expenses.

“There is no money but whatever little money I earn, I have to try and put down some towards the funeral because I don’t have it,” said Wilson.

Reunion off the cards

Sabrina Marshall, the daughter of Janet Thompson, said that with the breadwinner of the family no longer around, their annual family reunion is off the cards. Instead, they are preparing to pay their last respects to her.

“It is feeling different now that Mommy will not be a part of what would normally be our happy time,” Marshall said on Friday. “We don’t feel that Christmas spirit because we are a week from putting her down and, at this point, everyone is just dreading that day because we know how sad it will be.”

Marshall said that the adult members of the family are bonding and consoling each other, while providing counselling to the younger members.

“We are putting in measures in place to ensure that they understand what is about to unfold and letting them know that it’s OK to cry,” she said.

Marshall noted that despite the anguish, the family remains rooted in the conviction that life doesn’t stop here.

“It is hard to come to terms with the reality of what took place, but we have to try and find a way by taking small steps, one day at a time as we move forward together,” she noted.

“At this time of the year, it [would normally] be the best time for us. We would normally plan beach trips and we would cook Christmas dinner and get together as a family,” Marshall explained.

This year, though, it’s different.

“It’s like we don’t know where we go from here.”

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com