Slain son’s friends rally to comfort grieving mom on Mother’s Day
ON MOTHER’S Day, the first call Jannett Foster would normally receive would be from her oldest child, Earl McKenzie.
Last Sunday, May 10, was no ordinary Mother’s Day as she buried him the previous day.
Foster’s son was shot and injured on March 2 in a robbery in Montego Bay in which businessman Kenneth‘Kenny’ Li, operator of the Barnett Street-based Cash Smart Supermarket, and Carl Reid were killed.
McKenzie’s friends, however, brought sunshine to Foster’s world on Sunday as they ensured that she did not sink into despair on the special day.
“His friends kept calling, and one who had flown in from abroad invited me to dinner,” she told The Gleaner, adding that the gesture touched her deeply and took away some of the pain.
“I try not to let it (McKenzie’s death) override me, but no matter what I do, every now and again, it gets the better of me,” she admitted.
LAST MOMENTS WITH SON
She said that she is also finding strength in a moment she spent with him at the hospital.
“He said to me. ‘Mommy, you know I first got shot, and when I got shot, my breath leave my body, and I cried out unto God, and He put back my breath in my body, and that’s why I am talking to you now’,” Foster related. “I said to him, ‘Let us pray – pray and ask God to forgive you of all your sins and wash and cleanse you’.”
She said that there would always be so many things that would remind her of him, but at least she has now found peace in the thought that his soul is safe.
McKenzie died leaving his fiancée; a 16-year-old son, who couldn’t make it to the funeral as he lives abroad; and an eight-year-old daughter.
At the thanksgiving service on Saturday, which was held at the Faith Temple Assemblies of God in Montego Bay, McKenzie’s loved ones reflected on his life.
His younger brother, Edward Foster, said that his cadet influence would spill over into the family as McKenzie would often have them lining up and marching like soldiers on parade.
“So we were like rehearsal for him,” he joked. He also shared how his brother taught him to play the piano, giving a taste of the first song his brother taught him to play – Bill Withers’ Lean On Me.
One friend, recalling McKenzie’s years growing up, described him as a “special person” who brought passion to Summerfield through his love and interaction with the residents.