MACKENZIE, Freda Marion (nee Mayhew)

The funeral service for Freda Marion (nee Mayhew) MacKenzie of Summerside, P.E.I., beloved wife of Tom MacKenzie, was held on Thursday, June 21st, 2018 from the East Prince Funeral Home Chapel, to the Summerside Presbyterian Church by Rev. Chesley Boutilier. The Scripture Readings and Meditation were offered by Rev. Boutilier. Words of Remembrance was shared by her daughter Lori Harrington. The congregation hymns were “Morning Has Broken”, “In the Bulb there is a Flower”, “Amazing Grace” and “Go Now In Peace”. Urn Bearer was her daughter Sue Adams. Interment took place in Belfast Presbyterian Cemetery, Belfast with Rev. Boutilier officiating. Arrangements were entrusted to the East Prince Funeral Home, Summerside.

Joseph Jackson, the fearsome stage dad of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and their talented siblings, who took his family from poverty and launched a musical dynasty, has died. He was 89.

Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg told The Associated Press that Joe Jackson died at 2:55 a.m. on Wednesday at Nathan Adelson Hospice in Las Vegas.

Fudenberg said he did not have full details, and a determination was not immediately made about whether his office would handle the case.

“We are reviewing the circumstances surrounding the death, but there is no reason to believe it’s anything other than a natural death,” the coroner said.

Jackson was a guitarist who put his own musical ambitions aside to work in the steel mills to support his wife and nine children in Gary, Indiana. But he far surpassed his own dreams through his children, particularly his exceptionally gifted seventh child, Michael.

Fronted by the then-pint-sized wonder and brothers Jermaine, Marlon, Tito and Jackie, the Jackson 5 was an instant sensation in 1969 and became the first phase of superstardom for the Jackson family. Over the following decades, millions would listen to both group and solo recordings by the Jackson 5 (who later became known as The Jacksons) and Michael would become one of the most popular entertainers in history.

Michael Jackson’s estate released a statement mourning the death.

“We are deeply saddened by Mr. Jackson’s passing and extend our heartfelt condolences to Mrs. Katherine Jackson and the family. Joe was a strong man who acknowledged his own imperfections and heroically delivered his sons and daughters from the steel mills of Gary, Indiana, to worldwide pop superstardom,” said John Branca and John McClain, co-executors of the estate.

“Papa Joe,” as he would become known, ruled through his stern, intimidating and unflinching In this June 2, 2010 file photo, Joe Jackson, father of the late Michael Jackson, laughs during a news conference about the construction of the proposed Michael Jackson Performing Arts and Cultural Center and Museum, in Gary, Ind.

presence, which became so indelible it was part of black popular culture, even referenced in song and on TV.

“This is bad, real bad Michael Jackson, Now I’m mad, real mad Joe Jackson,” Kanye West rhymed in Keri Hilson’s 2009 hit, “Knock You Down.”

Michael and other siblings would allege physical abuse at their father’s hands.

“We’d perform for him and he’d critique us. If you messed up, you got hit, sometimes with a belt, sometimes with a switch. My father was real strict with us — real strict,” Michael Jackson wrote in his 1985 autobiography, “Moonwalk.”

LaToya Jackson would go as far as to accuse him of sexual abuse in the early 1990s, when she was estranged from her entire family, but she later recanted, saying her former husband had coerced her to make such claims. She and her father later reconciled.

By the time they were adults, most of the Jackson siblings had dismissed him as their manager; Michael and Joseph’s relationship was famously fractured; Michael Jackson revered his mother, Katherine, but kept his distance from Joseph.

However, during some of his son’s most difficult times, including his 2004 molestation trial, Joseph was by his side, and Michael acknowledged their complicated relationship in a 2001 speech about healthy relationships between parents and their children.