Mother, daughter remembered during double funeral
FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD SCHOOLGIRL Lavecia Forrester and her 39-year-old mother Petrina Wallace who lived together and died together were also celebrated together and buried beside each other following a service of thanksgiving for their lives last weekend in Westmoreland.
They died tragically three months ago in a motor vehicle collision along with three others while they were on their way home in a public passenger vehicle operated by 47-year-old Delroy Rodney of a Belmont address in Westmoreland.
Rodney is charged with five counts of causing death by dangerous driving and is before the Westmoreland Circuit Court.
Claudette Spencer, a friend and confidante of the late Petrina Wallace remembered her as a gem whose life was colourful and bright, and an individual who enjoyed going to parties where she would show off her latest dance moves.
“Petra, as most of us, her friends and loved ones would call her, was the life of the parties, busting her cool moves for us to see. If she wasn’t dancing, it wouldn’t be a party,” Spencer said.
“There wasn’t a dull moment when it came to Petra as she was always giving jokes and telling stories that would guarantee laughter and much excitement.”
However, she admitted that her friend had come to recognise that her lifestyle was not pleasing to God.
“The last time we spoke, she told me something and I encouraged her to give her life to the Lord, and she said to me, ‘Sandy, you know say mi a guh dung a Sister Nancy to talk to her, because mi wah change mi life. Mi nuh wah live suh nuh more’, and I encouraged her, but, sad to say, she didn’t get the chance,” said Spencer of her friend, as she delivered the eulogy during Petrina’s funeral at the Church of God of Prophecy in Whitehouse, Westmoreland on Saturday.
Spencer noted that life is full of many unforeseen circumstances, and that her friend, who is survived by her mother, father, grandmother, four siblings and three sons, probably would have seen her life turn out better had the incident that took her’s and her daughter’s lives not occurred.
CAR ACCIDENT
“Her only daughter (Lavecia Forrester) had an unfortunate incident and, in a bid to seek help, protection and support, Petrina went to the Savanna-la-Mar Family Court on Monday, November 13, and on her way back home the taxi in which they were travelling collided into a truck and then a tree where Petrina and her daughter died on the spot,” she recalled.
Petrina, who is from Gordon district, was selfemployed at the time of her death and, in her adult life, she started out as a fish vendor at the Whitehouse Fishing Beach before moving on to selling assorted items, including laundry products.
Like her mother, a member of the community identified as D. Jones Eubanks, remembered Lavecia as a young lady who was jovial and enjoyed dancing up a storm.
She noted that the proverb that states that the apple doesn’t fall far, and which means that a child grows up to be similar to his or her parents, both in behaviour and in physical characteristics, was evident with Lavecia.
“Lavecia, like her mother, she loved to dance and was always showcasing her dancing skills,” Jones-Eubanks said while delivering the eulogy at her service of thanksgiving.
“Lavecia and her mother had a close relationship, they were like sisters. And if for any reason she had to be absent from school, she would be at her mother’s workplace, assisting her or just keeping her company. No wonder they departed this life together,” she lamented.
Further, Jones-Eubanks recalled that Lavecia’s friends at school said she would often be laughing, giving jokes and just being playful.
“However, when it was work time, she would settle down and get the work done,” Jones-Eubanks said, indicating that this was evident as “she made great strides in her education, as she moved from seven through to grade 10”.