Please join us to celebrate the life of Dr. Rose Yvonne Davies (May 2, 1948 - September 11, 2021)

so [Music] so my so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh all right [Music] cheers [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] and whoever lives is if we live we live to the lord and if we die in the lord so then whether we live or whether we die we are the lord for to this end christ died and lived again that he might be lord both of the dead and of the living our savior christ jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel i am the first and the last i am he who lives and was dead and behold i am alive forever and i have the keys of death and of hell because i live you will live also [Music] neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor faith when the first things are passed away remain standing as we sing to him my god how wonderful the heart [Music] my god [Music] is it [Music] [Music] me we must be [Music] he [Music] [Music] is [Music] yet [Music] is [Music] [Music] no [Music] is [Music] oh jesus [Music] closed captioning [Music] please be seated let us pray most gracious god we turn to you in the sorrow and grief of our bereavement praying that we may find the strength we need in your sustaining grace so that even as we mourn the death of one whom we knew and loved we may not be overcome by this trial but we may hold fast trusting in your goodness and mercy assure us o lord our god that death is not the end of those who trust in you and may our hearts be so composed in the holy spirit that all fear and bitterness may be swallowed up in the light and peace of your that you give to your troubled children through jesus christ our lord so almighty and eternal god who by the holy spirit minister to us in our weakness and by the victory of your son jesus christ have given us the pledge of eternal life lift us we pray above our present distress and sorrow and shed the light of your grace and glory upon us through the same jesus christ our lord amen we are met in this solemn moment to commend rose yvonne davies into the hands of the almighty god our heavenly father who sent his son jesus christ to be our redeemer by whose stripes we are healed and in whose name alone we have salvation let us then recall to mind the life of our deceased sister and in humble trust hear the words of holy scripture and permit me to extend a welcome to all who have joined us here in the sanctuary and equally online for this thanksgiving service for our beloved sister the service will continue with tributes initially first of all from the husband dr omar davis followed by a tribute from the children tanya davis trisha davis and karim davies and grandchild dylan gale immediately after these tributes there is going to be a musical tribute from the chancel choir and voices at dawn sister rose was a member of the chancellor choir and then went on to be a member of the voices at dawn which is the choir that traditionally met at six in the morning our cantor sister pauline finley is the one who is in charge of this choir so obviously we do want to be expressing our condolences and our thanks to the davis family for allowing sister rose to be so effective in her ministry here at providence so let us now listen to the tributes we begin with the husband's tribute [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] more [Music] um [Music] more oh [Music] my [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] oh [Music] members of the clergy members of the hutchinson davis family rose's providence sisters and brothers those in the congregation and those online as well as the and the singers and players of instrument will be there and they are here pauline godfrey roger rose specifically wanted you here the task assigned to me to pay this tribute is without doubt one of the most challenging i've ever undertaken this assessment may seem strange as rose was my closest friend for over 52 years and my wife for 50 years so i don't mean many mom i should know her however putting together this tribute required me digging deep in the recesses of my mind and although that exploration brought back great memories there was also great pain over the decades i had a unique opportunity to observe the growth and development of this special woman from a young uwi graduate to a professional in an exciting new field in the u.s early childhood education and then following our return to jamaica i watched the emergence of a leader in our field an innovator a role model who influenced and nurture the hundreds of others not only in jamaica but also throughout the caribbean region since rose's death i've been bombarded with telephone calls emails whatsapp messages and even handwritten notes from persons of varying backgrounds telling me of personal interaction with rose and ways in which she had influenced their lives that's so it has slowly dawned on me that i must be a slow learner in that i've had a unique opportunity to live with this special woman for over five decades without until now fully grasping the full measure of this remarkable human being who seemingly with little effort combined the diff demanding requirements of academician mother daughter sister friend role model and wife i start with meeting at glenmore by the way they gave me a choir they thought that they would fall in take charge of everything on so i leave trisha to explain to them why she used one item although rosa and i were at campus had born over the same time period and had friends in common it's only when we both joined the staff at glenmuir in september 1960 that we were formally introduced by a mutual friend the academic year 1968-69 was a most rewarding one for me as i dedicated much time and effort in ensuring that all emphasized all new staff members were properly settled in this new environment as is always the case some new recruits needed extra attention in this orientation process it may be it may be that ms hutchinson was one example of those needing special attention to cut a long story short i did my best to firmly establish glamour's credentials as a welcoming environment for new staff members i did nothing more and nothing less to to become accepted in the claim of fraternity is one of the more challenging things and i want you to know that rose is fully accepted in that regard i left jamaican in 69 to pursue graduate studies at northwestern university in evanston illinois it quickly became apparent to both of us that we were not doing too well separated and so we got married on august 28 1971. and returned together to evanston evans 10 years apart from beginning our life as a young married couple our time in evanston opened up unexpected opportunities for rose in a new exciting professional field that of early childhood education rosa pursued a degree in spanish honors at uwi and the logical expectation is that she would pursue graduate work in that area it was by chance that one of my fellow graduate students at northwestern suggested that rose's spanish credentials would best be utilized teaching young students for whom spanish was for her first language furthermore she gave us a link to the newly established ericsson institute for early childhood education which had been one of the by-products of president lyndon johnson's great society initiative following the assassination of john kennedy prominent amongst these initiatives were investments in programs aimed at young children based on empirical research which had demonstrated significant differences in results when children were exposed to structured programs of learning and social interaction from their toddlers in summary rose excel at ericsson and graduated from both that institution as well as from loyola university of chicago with an ma in education plus her diploma in early childhood i watch rose grow during our period in evanston not just academically but as a member of the rapidly growing jamaican population in the chicago evanston area she was soon a full-fledged member of our cricket team evans sons skokie cricket club her membership derived now because she played for the team but then she was appointed the team's official scorer the background disappointment is worth repeating following a season with many disputed results some came close to this jamaican's violence the organizers of the cricket competition in illinois and wisconsin rule that every team must travel with a formerly designated scorer and the official result of the match would be as determined by agreement between these two scorers when this ruling was passed we panicked because none of us could score consistent with the official rules most scoring like even corrigate match is not difficult to when a man run to to turn it into tree and even church festivities as i said none of us knew the official rules of have you ever seen this the score book the rose asked for a copy of the official score book which contained detailed instructions written in the usually unintelligible way that instructions invariably are if you ever try to assemble something based on the instructions you know you're going to mash it up but rose had that knock then and still us the ability to read these strange things and translate them into action so the day after she asked for the scorebook she announced to the club members that she could act as a scorer and she had read the instructions and they're very clear and so we set off for the next match in the competition with our self-tutored scorer there are many in the club who doubted that rose had acquired required skills but not only did she make us proud but it was not long before she was regarded as the most accomplished scorer in the competition i always wondered about the others what i'd said about the others but that is is what happened i can now confess that i was amongst the skeptics in terms of rose's ability to take on the job of official score as her basic arithmetic skills were compromised an example of this arithmetic limitation was given one night at about 3 a.m and sean in case you don't know i can talk about montessori and all that because i used to type her essence what problem is she would never finish these essays to give me adequate time to type that on one night at about 3 am she woke me up to tell me that she was finished with her 20 page paper and she needed to submit it to her professor by 8 am when i argued that this was an impossible task for me rosa assured me that she had the solution and this now calls for higher mathematical skills she pointed out that the professor had specified double space typing but in her view i could have the task by typing the essay single space my attempt to convince rose that this solution would not reduce the number of words and i was faced with the same problem reached no where and she simply went to bed so i pecked away and had her 20 page double space paper ready for her to take to her 8 am class from evanston to stanford after completion of my phd at northwestern we headed for stanford we had been offered a faculty position for that move to stanford rose was heavily laid as she was pregnant with her first our first child tanya in california after roses after tanya's birth she was appointed head of an early childhood facility she rose dattania this was a preview of the range of activities which she would carry with seemingly no effort for much of her life mother administrator wife community member despite a range of attractive offers extended to both of us whilst we resided in california at no stage that rose and our eye contemplate settling in the usa consequently in august 1975 we headed back home with neros again heavily laden this time carrying trisha returned to jamaica resettling in jamaica posed some challenges but soon rose was employed at uwi and had embarked on our mission to spread the message of early childhood education not only in jamaica but also through the english-speaking caribbean she was a key mover in several initiatives in the early childhood sector not the least of which was the introduction of specialization in teacher colleges throughout the caribbean a reading of the tributes from some of our professional colleagues will provide an idea of the extent of our impact on the development of the field throughout the region whilst rose was outstanding in her performance in the academic field i might say in passing that she made time to complete her phd from uwa this did not diminish her involvement in several other roles for example she found the time to produce curry ten years after trisha's birth and that's uh we won't go into that story but i must share this with you reverence when rose told the girls that she was pregnant tanya was surprised and said she didn't even know she was still active but she's directing that rose not at me rose after 10 trisha's birth continued to support me in all my endeavors i was a deeply involved mother to our children and grand mother to our dylan or grandson as if these commitments were not enough to occupy any normal person following my decision to enter politics with the added burden of our constituency which contains several let's say difficult communities it's created for rose the opportunity to expand the reach of our message about education in general and early childhood education in particular rose collaborated with dr jones spencer hernandez and my sister dr beverly mckenzie to design and implement what is acknowledged to have been the most comprehensive constituency educational program the results of the program can be seen by the number of young people who start at the start were illiterate and were either couldn't read our reading at a level several years below their age cohort and was a result of their immersion in the program went on to excel at the tertiary and professional levels and it it's really an impressive list of persons who have done well because of that program dr spencer hernandez has always committed that she would collaborate with ruse to document the experience in saud saint andrew so that the word could be spread as to the possibilities in making a commitment to invest in any education joan bev this commitment must be carried out rose is watching rose's social being rose was an involved member of society she had a deep interest in all aspects of our society and took passionate positions on any action which suggested bias inequity or disorder she had a special thing about verges and so it should also be commenting about the need for virtues to be caught and i must call people and tell them that virtues i said rose i'm a retired guy but she had a strong thing about order she articulated her passionate positions anywhere anytime to anyone she was a nationalist with a strong commitment to the country's culture particularly our music although she abhorred a growing tendency towards lewd lyrics in some of the popular music she and dylan had a special bond because he was impressed that she kept current with the latest trends in the music which his generation listened to and i used the the the known music loosely will guess rose was a big sports fan and followed close to the fortunes of all local teams especially in track and field attendance at a major trap meet was serious business for her as she carefully recorded all results including those from the heats and other preliminary events and i was always surprised where we should find us when rose would be telling me her choices because she had kept all these results from the the heats as such over the years we were regulars at champs and in 2015 we seized the opportunity to go together with karim and dylan to a turn attend the world champs held in beijing she enjoyed every minute of that experience rose and friendship throughout her life rose formed and maintained lasting friendships she was often friends with her colleagues but do not for one moment believe that any such friendship would compromise her exact and professional standard no one was spared reprimand if they fell below what was expected i must confess she had one characteristic which displeased me immeasurably rose took over my friends since her death i started compiling a list of persons to whom i had introduced rose to to at introduce rose and who over time i noticed that contact would be made primarily with rose and then with me few were not available i have always assumed that this occurred because i knew that i was busy their sense of rules as i struggle with putting together my thoughts for distribute and i know i am i'm all over the place i wondered how i could best i could summarize what rose represented to me when i combined her key attributes as i reflected on this question one exchange between us in the last days kept recurring in my head in that period there was need for nurses to be in attendance 24 7 would change or was taking place at specified times one particular morning several changes were scheduled and to me it seemed challenging how everything would be handled letting in people letting out people telling them where things are where teabags are and what have you and i fear that chaos would be the result and despite her weak physical state i raised the matter with rose she looked at me with knitted brows and responded what is the problem we'll just have to train them in that moment i understood once again the measure of the special woman where i had seen a problem with respect of chaos and confusion she had identified the solution we'll just have to train them may her soul rest in peace and light perpetual shine on her hello everyone [Music] well i think my father said it all so i i'm done for the day but seriously um to be honest i had a very difficult time for many reasons trying to write this short dedication and it should be short finding words to paint with brevity the closest image of who my mother was and still is to me when there is so much to say it is actually an unnecessary form of torment for me at this time however trust my mother to apply her signature modesty or signature of modesty to her own memorial service mo mota shy adventurer an open-minded traditionalist and a gentle soul who could be both resilient and stubborn she consistently ranked in the top five of my best friends throughout my adult life rose just not my mother somehow she was able to switch hats and hold regular non-judgmental conversations with me the truth is not everyone can say this and actually mean it sure she was my mother with the usual parental concerns and i'm sure she had discussions with my dad about some of my choices if not all but what i respected about that about her was that she allowed me the space to grow another point about my mom that slammed into my thoughts like an epiphany just recently was amidst her fairly traditional and modest demeanor she was a highly empowered woman ask my dad mom rarely acted as if her entire existence revolved around him as much as he may have stated that but it was not true and she didn't exist for his approval either her actions instead demonstrated that she wanted to be with him as his life partner and his best friend and that but she also had her own life from her early childhood divas crew to her dedicated path which was supported by the entire family and eventually acknowledged by the nation her display of empowerment went beyond the visible accomplishments she displayed a quiet strength through her pragmatic approach towards love and one's identity and let me explain you could love hard but don't lose yourself to the point that there's absolutely nothing left within i remember when i discovered reader's bookstore anyone just that way known as sea martin ligoni plaza the excitement of knowing i could purchase cheap used books or trade them for more was absolute bliss it wasn't just about the books but the kind of books that i had recent that had recently piqued my interest romance novels later in my room i placed my promising stack of delights on my desk mom came into my room for a completely unrelated reason and saw them she slowly picked one up read the blurb on the back and placed it back she clearly realized my tastes had changed and i was growing up i thought i was going to take that i thought she was going to take them away instead she said enjoy them but remember this is not how actual romance works in life it requires work on both sides so as long as you remember that these are fairy tales read as many as you want well i have outgrown the books but her advice has never veered far from the truth i'm ever grateful that she set the tone from the start and i have since then been able to navigate the world of heartaches and romance grounded in reality because of this advice mom never shied away from tackling topics topics that other parents would squirm and avoid nature has always been a powerful force for us mere humans and with that understanding she chose to inform and empower me about my body and how it worked than have someone else misguide me in my ignorance she wanted me to understand the importance of making educated decisions and that becoming a parent was a big responsibility as well so let me put it this way by the time i was in sixth grade i could have taught sex education i was clinically aware of all these taboo topics and later as an adult i realized why mom wasn't trying to be radical in fact she was a very matter of fact she was very matter of fact about it however she was being realistic she wanted me to own my body i was born in it and had to live with it therefore why not own it to her woman should actively decide the when's where and whys of our choices the confidence it gives a woman to be fully responsible for herself in this regard and it is one of the greatest types of empowerment so to mommy rose i thank you and love you until the end of my days and beyond good morning everybody rob my apologies we're not running on schedule but um i think we just need to speak from our heart so i wrote two different tributes to mummy the first one was focused on the evolution of our relationship as a mother and daughter we had a few rocky years mommy and i and if she were here she would say i was her most challenging child to raise i however prefer to say that i allowed mommy to strengthen her parenting skills on reflection i decided to share this tribute that i wrote last night on some key lessons that i learned from her the first lesson was the importance of being organized and having a plan i remember in my final year at ue mommy went to israel for a number of months to work tanya was away at school so mommy had to entrust me with the oversight of kareem as well as to provide daddy's support in terms of how household affairs trust and believe us on the phone with mommy every day i memorized that i cast number things had just flowed so seamlessly when she was here at home and even though she had left me copious notes i just felt overwhelmed like just so many things were happening and i didn't realize the extent of what she was managing behind the scenes i quickly discovered at that stage that my mother was a planner extraordinaire and i started to appreciate why daddy addressed her as commander-in-chief the second lesson from mommy was to seize every opportunity mommy was with me the last few months of my master's program when i was studying in the us and though she knew i was extremely homesick and i wanted to return home immediately after graduation she had other plans every recruitment call and interview invitation that i received mommy answered the phone and she happily accepted them all she made unconfirmed travel arrangements without any consultation with the interviewee her excuse was when i objected trish you were in class just go and see what it's all about she felt very strongly that when i returned home i should do so with experience under my belt she felt that the exposure that i would gain would allow me a wealth of future opportunity as a result of this intervention i lived and worked in the us for a number of years after graduation and realized that mummy indeed had been right the experience was invaluable the third lesson was as a parent you must support your child to be their best self as a young parent i believe that i was responsible for setting goals and targets for my child to achieve in reality tomorrow we realized i had no clue what i was doing but she was patient and kind and oftentimes amused by my attempts to parent dylan it gave her great pleasure to witness our interactions as here was a child who marched to his own drum was unaffected by my attempts to structure and schedule and tell him what to do he had a voice and he sure did use it to argue his positions mommy often became our mediator as dylan had no qualms reporting me to my mother she would listen to both sides and ensure that we left the conversation more open to seeing each other's point of view her constant mantra to me was trisha do not do anything to break his spirit here again mommy was right i've learned so much from her on how to be a good parent the final lesson i'd like to share is on the power of a positive attitude over the last four years that she battled with cancer mummy fought to maintain a sense of normalcy and independence on multiple occasions after a surgery a procedure or after chemo she would be busy watering plants cooking dinner or preparing for choi practice or a board meeting nothing was going to break her spirits or the commitment she had made she was not going to feel sorry for herself regardless of the situation she lived her life to the fullest until the last minute as i hand over to kareem i can say that we were well loved and it is competent to know that mummy shall continue to watch over all of us mommy i have been blessed by you and i know that you are now at peace daddy your priority over the last few years has been to be beside her through every part of this difficult journey we will be right here with you as mommy would repeatedly say to me trish your lives have to go on and though this will be particularly hard again mommy was right i just want to say one more thing daddy did mention that there was a team of persons who were around us to help support mommy from the doctors who cared for her as well as the caregivers who were at home i just want to say thank you you loved her as much as we did good morning everyone i'll try not to be as worried as i normally am so thank you all for attending this thanksgiving service um i don't really have the words to convey how difficult this is for me and the family but i'd like to extend the gratitude for the support that we've received it's it's really meant a lot um so how do i give an adequate tribute to the lady that birthed and nurtured me i really don't feel as though mere words will do her impact justice because i'll invariably leave out so much but i will try anyway i'll expound on three words that immediately came to mind when i learned i was doing attribute so first consistency i can say with full confidence that everyone who knew mummy in any capacity would have formed a unique relationship with her but also all agree that she was consistent in every way in every interaction whatever it is that she promised or set out to do she did whenever it is that you needed her for something she was there second word determination so my mother was one of the most driven determined people that i've ever had the privilege of knowing she saw life's various challenges as a part of the journey and took them all in stride so balancing three children a 50-year marriage a distinguished career in early childhood education a close-knit family unit dear friendships community outreach life in the public eye as well as the challenge that she went through at the end does not sound humanly possible but that is exactly what she did and third humility if you were a stranger talking to her for the first time you would certainly never guess that my mother had received national distinction or was an authority in her field unless it was relevant to that conversation so the fact that i'm still learning of more people that she had a profound impact on every day since her passing even actually up to this morning speaks volumes however she let none of her many accomplishments define who she was as a person so there is so much more to her but these are the characteristics characteristics of hers which to me show her why she was one of one so in closing none of us actually choose our own mothers but i would never pick differently so mommy i will miss you um [Music] i think the first thing i want to say is thank you for coming um all the people online everybody that's here just good morning to everybody um [Music] i'm still blown away by grandpa's speech because that was amazing but i wrote this speech or a dress about a day after grandma passed away i took a hot shower and i was trying to clear my head knowing that it's kind of crazy that was spoken about the fact that i wanted to speak at her funeral so i figured that you know what she wanted me to do is speak from the heart so where do i start first of all i'm dylan andra gayle rose dave is his favorite grandchild um well it might be by default but what does that matter i'm up here today to share with you through my eyes who my grandma was when she was walking here physically with us she still lives with us and i still feel like she's walking the walk of life through all of us but for those of you who knew her well my grandma was one of the most caring hard-working and kind persons you ever met i know all of those adjectives are pretty similar but i think it just speaks to who she was to me she was a change maker a catalyst for positive change grandma was an inspiration to all of us now i could go on like all day but i think what i really want to focus on are three adjectives that i think really describe her now for a tiny bit of context one day i was going through this university questionnaire um and there's a question that asked me about three objectives that described you and three objectives that your family and friends would use to describe as well so i started relaxing around and grandma responded and she used three really nice adjectives and she said you're sociable you're intelligent and you're well-mannered so then i followed up and asked her if she had to choose one of these adjectives which one would it be and why so she responded to me on whatsapp as follows it's hard to choose but i'll go with intelligent because i think you tend to undervalue the high level of your intelligence i want you to know i think you're a brilliant child so boldly claim it when you hear this from your grandmother and i'll share a really quick story but when i was about to do my cxa examinations i think everybody knows this story grandma sat me down one day and she said to me dylan so when you don't get any of your subjects what are you going to do so i said what do you mean i think i'm going to get like seven ones she said seven ones she was just like what is the plan i think about it now and i just realized that grandma was doing something that she did for everybody she was preparing them for the world preparing them for the eventuality that they actually failed it's okay so i decided that i did the same exercise for her when i think about her i immediately think of three adjectives and these are caring passionate and gracious i'll go again caring passionate and gracious i asked myself if i had to choose one of these adjectives same question i asked her which would it be and why choosing i think would be really hard but i think the one that stuck with me most in her last days would be gracious there was no one that grandma didn't make feel appreciated she listened she said thank you she told me that she loved you she made you feel heard she trusted in the lord and she left everything all up to him anybody you have asked or anybody that you would have spoken to would have said that she's probably one of the most humble and gracious people that they have ever met jamaica has truly lost a hero one of my heroes and in closing i want to say grandma i really hope i didn't justice in what i shared today i'll share a quick story but i was talking to um brenda brenda is just a part of our family and she said to me dylan do you remember the days that grandma used to come and sit with you at the dining table you would decide to take two hours to eat you'd go back and warm up the food again but grandma just stayed there patiently waiting and she went through essays with me and when i read them back i realized that some of those esses were really bad but she sat with me and she just went away and corrected one thing at a time she didn't try to everything she didn't point out every grammatical error and to me that's just who she is so i'll walk with you in my heart grammar to the final days well to my final days when we link up again i love you jenna jenna as i used to call her and she was very confused i love you grandma thank you for every moment every time he spoils me and just for everything you will be missed thank you and so we move now from the spoken tributes to a musical tribute of course sister rose was a member as i mentioned earlier on of both the chancellor choir and voices at dawn and their tribute comes now after which we will have the remembrance by her sisters mrs barbara chamberlain this is martia edwards and dr winsom russell [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] precious is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] this day lead us by your holy word guide us in your way [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] give us love that's true lord trusting as a child [Music] but to heal the heart and not turn away anyone who [Music] we ask is teachers indeed [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] me [Music] [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] officiating clergy family i'm so sorry officiating clergy family members friends and well-wishers gathered in the sanctuary as well as online a pleasant morning to you all please allow us to share with you some beautiful memories of our dear sister rose chitrangada sharon penned the following words a rose is a rose is a rose always beautiful and it's more beautiful if it's blooming in your garden end of court rose yvonne davies ne hutchinson bloomed in our garden for 73 precious years adding fragrance and beauty to the lives of all with whom she came in contact her name symbolizes exactly who she was like the rose plant she was versatile pleasant and so protective other characteristics of rose include being an influenced influential fearless benevolent loving and caring woman all in all rose was a wonderful human being yet ever so humble she walked with kings and queens but she never lost the common touch at a point in time all four of us were living in different global locations but we kept the sister bond going strong a little over 20 years ago when we were all back living in jamaica we started the tradition of an annual sisters retreat no husbands no children just the four of us rose was always instrumental in identifying some suitable and comfortable venues for these gatherings both local and overseas our last such retreat was in 2018 at the family home in spalding manchester as usual we had a great time together rose ran her house like clockwork she was an all-attentive wife to her ever so busy husband dr omar davis she was an equally attentive mother to her three children tanya trisha and kareem and a daughting grandmother to dylan our sister rose was an extremely caring aunt and daughter a considerate employer and she demonstrated great generosity to many aspiring young persons whom she also mentored she organized and coordinated her housekeepers gardeners driver and various other tradesmen to carry out their assigned duties like a well-oiled machine rose loved entertaining and preparing gourmet dishes was her thing we would only have to say that we were visiting on a particular day and her first question would be what i want to eat one lasting memory we have of rose is her walking briskly up and down the corridor enthusiastically engaged in some purposeful activities as she decorated the house and prepared for events such as domino nights on fridays birthday parties and other celebratory occasions annual christmas decorating exercises were extra special for her rose was undoubtedly a fashionista she was a fashionista of no mean order had a wonderful sense of humor two characteristics that she inherited no doubt from our late mother jenny hutchinson also in closing my section can i tell you even when we wanted to forget she never forgot a birthday not only were we sisters we were best friends of the four sisters rose and i were the closest in age she being less than two years my senior so we spent our childhood adolescent and much of our young adult years together during those times we shared many many memorable experiences and she would recall some of her special ones more often than she did others one such recall relates the time during our pre-high school years in brandon hill saint andrew when she would sometimes say marcel come a quick fight i usually complied to the request of my senior and quite often rose would be the victor even though she was smaller in stature how would i have known then that she was developing her strength both in personality and in her ability to deal with life's challenges we all attended wilmer's high school for girls and she was two years ahead of me we were such different students teachers would often express surprise that we were related one of our shared teachers once commented i can't believe you was a sister rose is so diligent and obedient we shared one year together on campus at the university of the west indies during which time her friends assigned me the moniker rose board with the hope that i would follow in her footsteps i hope i did even to a small extent rose and i undertook many important milestone activities together a significant one was preparation for her wedding when the preparations were being made both omar and our mother were in the u.s and would be coming home just before the date of the wedding on the 28th of august 1971. rose and i took on the task of making all the necessary arrangements for the wedding all went well and on the 28th of august 2021 we were together with rose and omar as they spent their 50th anniversary together rose started her professional life as a teacher of spanish but with omar's encouragement she transitioned to early childhood education during the time that they lived in the usa she passionately pursued that career in which she excelled and her contribution in this area both nationally and internationally became the highlight of her professional life rose was just a wonderful wonderful sister locally rose was my travel partner as we made regular trips to and from sparling and mandeville to visit with our parents and sisters our sister rose was a good listener as we traveled to the country i always had some long stories to share with her little did i know that i was talking so much i was only aware of that when we arrived and she announced bob's and martial i never knew that winston could talk nonstop for the entire journey but she would end by saying but i was entertained rose and i worked for approximately 15 years at institutions situated across the road from each other we would spend much time discussing our experiences of teaching our students face to face and online and we often exchange methods we would use to engage them at times we even traveled to conferences together rose was a self-taught guitar player and when i was 14 years old during one of her holiday breaks on the uwi she started teaching me to play the guitar later on we would play our guitars together while rose sung in her natural controlled voice i tried to assist with the singing but did not always get it right rose was indeed a very patient teacher however my assignment was to find the words of songs she loved like bob dylan's blowing in the wind and paul simon's the sound of silence i compiled these songs in two exercise books which i stuck together i still have these books during rose's illness especially the last few weeks we spent much time together discussing the news of the day and she would be quite passionate about some topics we watched our athletes perform at the recently head olympics and the diamond league we talked about our garden we watched local comedy shows listened to old hits from the 70s and 80s and laughed about various things we also engage in spiritual reflections we listen to her favorite praise and worship songs shared in meaningful devotions and pray together rose's all-encompassing caring spirit was ever present as most days when i was leaving her she asked me to check to see if the fish had been fed the last time that the four of us were together was on saturday september 4th when we spent an emotionally charged time by her bedside holding hands and praying before we left rose thanked us for being such blessings in her life on behalf of our families we three wish to thank her husband omar her children her family members friends her church family her doctors and other health care professionals household assistants and caregivers for their dedication and loving care during her challenging times we thank god for the years this rose bloomed in our garden we can no longer see her blooming but the plant continues to grow there i swear rosie may god bless you all and having called to mind the life of our deceased sister we move now to the readings from holy scripture the readings will be done by miss camille chamberlain and this onika russell nieces of sisters a reading from the word of god proverbs 31 verses 10 to 12 and 25 to 31 a wife of noble character who can find she's worth far more than rubies her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value she brings him good not harm all the days of her life 25 25-31 she's closed with strength and dignity she can laugh at the days to come she speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue she watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness her children arise and call her blessed her husband also and he praises her many women do noble things but you surpass them all charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting but a woman who fears the lord is to be praised honor her for all that her hands have done and let her works bring her praise at the city gate the word of the lord thanks be to god a reading from the word of god psalm 16 verses 5 and 6 and 8 to 11. lord you alone are my portion and my cup you make my lot secure the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places surely i have a delightful inheritance eight 8-11 i keep my eyes always on the lord with him at my right hand i will not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices my body also will rest secure because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead nor will you let your faithful one see decay you make known to me the path of life you will fill me with joy in presence with eternal pleasures at your right hand the word of the lord thanks be to god the great hymn from mary the magnificat my soul of magnify the lord and my spirit rejoices and god my savior we sing as we stand the hymn 143 voices in praise tell out my soul the greatness of the lord [Music] the greatness of the [Music] lord my spirit voice tender to me the promise of his word in god [Music] the greatness of [Music] his mercy sure for he was [Music] [Music] by oh [Music] the glory of his word for his promise and his mercy count my soul [Music] children [Music] the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen i share with us today words found in the gospel of john chapter 19 and verse 30. when jesus had received the wine he said it is finished then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit the account of the crucifixion of jesus is recorded in all four gospels as the son of god he had a very active life in everything that he said and did he was revealing to men and women what is the true nature of god god who is love he demonstrated love to to all persons whatever their nationality their gender their religious affiliation his was the love of god incarnate the love of god in the flesh and it is surprising that despite the good that jesus did whether as teacher or preacher healer cruel persons conspired and had him falsely accused accused of trumped up charges and put to death in john's gospel the suggestion is given that at about the time when jesus breathed his last he uttered the words it is finished it is finished and the meaning which we derive from the equivalent greek expression the greek is telesty it is not so much that his life had ended but that what he had come to earth to do had in fact been fulfilled so it is finished was the son of god expressing satisfaction that his earthly mission had been accomplished and when at the end of a life we can state with conviction it is finished it has to be with a similar feeling of contentment that one's earthly sahaja young has come to a satisfactory climax our dear sister rose yvonne davies whose life we today celebrate patterned her existence after the son of god i dare say today that she was someone with whom one could associate the jesus sentiments of it is finished what she set out on earth to do was in fact accomplished when she breathed her last she might have been willing to go on doing more of the noble things that formed part and parcel of her fasson de vivre but god decided that she had done enough it is finished and we praise god for all such persons who inject maximum effort into their every waking moment of course it is not everyone in the world who is so blessed so it must be seen as a special gift of the spirit bestowed upon those whom god chooses i had the good fortune of knowing as members of the davies family would appreciate that sister rose always gave 100 and more of anything to which she put her heart anything she put her mind anything to which he put a soul to achieve illness did not prevent her from being a family person a sister a wife a mother a grandmother and being at the same time active in god's service it did not prevent her in march of 2017 she underwent surgery but that did not prevent her from her commitment as a chorister of the chancel choir or voices at dawn or to the providence methodist early childhood institution and i dare say because of the normal covert restrictions we are unable to have all the members of the chancellor and voices at dawn we have of course sister paulie pauline findlay we have mr roger williams and mr godfrey taylor who are the ones responsible and of course sister and uh sister kathyan sutherland yes members who associated with her in that ministry of music the chancellor choir the voices of dawn the providence methodist early childhood institution these were very dear to her heart and this is why i highlight them one could detect the sense of sheer joy when the the basic school subsequently received the certification from the early childhood commission because she was a source of encouragement to the principal to the staff to the pta and of course the children of the school she was right here when in january 2018 and in january 2019 we had the first sets of worship services that brought together all the methodist basic schools in this providence circuit she was a source of encouragement for the new school building and the the church hall so that in september 2018 she cut one of the ribbons at the opening ceremony i dare say indomitable is a word that aptly describes her she could not be defeated and i note her husband's reference to her as a scorer not easily defeated determined illness could not defeat or deter her in march 2019 although in hospital she was eager to receive to resume duties as the chair of the school board whatever the need she responded not as a sick person but as a healed individual healing was what she was experiencing in the midst of all the medical procedures illness constituted for her a period of reflection and building up of her faith in god hers was a determination about putting self and personal satisfaction last in order to render service to god and humanity and and with her ability to maintain a maximum amount of zeal there was little or no chance of her doing anything that was left half finished and having been called by god to higher service we may affirm that for sister rose yvonne davies it is finished she fought the fight she finished the course she kept the faith her mission has been accomplished and so in celebrating the life of our dear departed sister i want to believe that one of the lessons you and i may take from her attitude is that there is so much for us to do in life that if we are to change the world for the better we are to be always on the job now it is not that there can be no rest time but for those who are well organized there's always going to be the time for rest and relaxation even as we seek to achieve what needs achieving so sisters and brothers while we live let us endeavor to do that which we believe god is calling us to do and on whatever the role we are fulfilling in life as agriculturist or engineer or teacher medical practitioner nurse chauffeur politician caregiver secretary journalist lawyer let us desist from making excuses and let us perform in the belief that god is motivating us to do it so my text again when jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit as recorded by john the evangelist he said it is finished and we have noted that this was an indication that the son of god had accomplished his earthly mission and he subsequently returned to the heavenly spiritual realm where he was at one with god and this same jesus issues to you and to me an important message the physical life that we presently enjoy will one day cease beyond it there is the unknown quantity which includes a spiritual existence and jesus christ says to us today as we celebrate one of his saints that beyond the present life continues and in the same gospel of john jesus also says in chapter 14 do not let your hearts be troubled believe in god believe also in me in my father's house there are many dwelling places if it were not so would i have told you that i go to prepare a place for you and if i go and prepare a place for you i will come again and will take you to myself so that where i am there you may be also in the meantime trust the god revealed in jesus christ be attentive to those worthwhile pursuits for which you know that you have been empowered to perform even as you make use of the talents gifts and graces with which god has blessed you thanks be to god for sister rose yvonne davies obedient servant and faithful member faithful follower of jesus christ who having finished life's tasks is now in the near presence of god rest eternal grant unto her and may perpetual light shine upon her amen let us pray i want to pray at this time for family and then we offer prayer of thanksgiving to god for our beloved sister comforting god you share all our grief we pray now that you will give meaning to that which defies our understanding shine upon the night of these your believed children you alone o god can show us can show to them that we are not abundant to chance of faith not even in what seems senseless to us and so grant those who mourn this morning grant unto those who mourn your message of comfort your peace may they receive this your message even through their sufferings through their sorrow god challenge them to discover the help of your mercy and to hope more fervently for your rule through their sadness open them oh god more to your compassion and help them to live in your strength reveal to them oh god your love love for the sourfold we pray and we pray our god that you will surround them with the love that you have for your children even through jesus christ our lord we pray amen and so all praise and glory blessing and thanksgiving and worship be to you o blessed trinity father son and holy spirit one god forever and ever and so we bless your name oh god for the life of her whom we today lay to rest we give you thanks for the joy and blessing her life has brought to others for her service to her generation according to your will and for every happy remembrance of her life we bless you for your mercy and goodness which have followed her all the days of her life that now the trials of this world are over and that itself is past receive our o god into your perfect kingdom and bring us with all who have lived and serve you faithfully to the fullness of your eternal joy through jesus christ our lord we pray amen invite us all to stand for the commendation please stand for the commendation we commend our sister your perfect mercy on this help eternal rest run onto her and let perpetual life shine apart [Music] as we forgive those who trespass against us deliver um god [Music] considered [Music] is [Music] is [Music] thee [Music] [Music] my savior me [Music] [Music] and here [Music] and feel the gentle grace then sings my soul my savior god to thee [Music] then sings my songs oh and when i think that god is [Music] the [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Music] shall come [Music] r [Music] oh great thee [Music] great [Music] this is [Music] [Music] our lord jesus christ the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant make you perfect in every good thing to do his will working in you that which is pleasing in his sight in jesus christ of glory forever [Music] foreign [Music] about those [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] okay [Music] [Music] foreign you

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Length: 122min 30sec (7350 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 22 2021