Pall bearers folding the Jamaican flag that draped Miss Lou's casket at National Heroes Park yesterday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

It was as if Mother Nature was mourning Miss Lou's passing. For at about 3:40 pm - 30 minutes before her funeral service at Coke Methodist Church in Kingston ended yesterday - heavy rains accompanied by deafening thunder, lightning and strong winds began.

But 87 year-old Alfred Gooden saw it a different way.
"The thunder is a celebration for Miss Lou," said the old man seated in one of two tents mounted at the graveside at National Heroes Park. "She is a torch that will shine not only in Jamaica, but in the universe... She will never be forgotten because she uplifted Jamaica in every way - rich or poor."

The heavy downpour had forced the large crowd of Jamaicans waiting to witness the interment of Louise Bennett-Coverley to scamper for cover under the tents, apparently erected to host dignitaries attending the official funeral.

Gooden said he had met Miss Lou when she was 17 years old after one of her performances at the Ward Theatre in downtown Kingston in 1936.

He was very impressed by her talent, said the elderly man, who told the Observer that he also goes by the name "Professor Wizard".

At about 4:40 pm, Mother Nature ended her performance, just in time for the hearse, led by eight mounted police, to arrive. Eight male pall bearers from the Jamaica Constabulary Force took the flag-draped casket from the hearse, proceeded to the vault where they laid it down, then ceremoniously removed the flag from the bluish grey coffin and folded it.

Meanwhile, the crowd cheered when Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller as well as members of the artistic community arrived. But they also booed Opposition Leader Bruce Golding.

"Bruce, you can't win, a Portia time now," one woman shouted in reference to upcoming general elections.
The crowd was also not delighted that they had watch the interment from the outer gates of the park.

"Step aside, we want to see," one woman yelled from behind the gates. "We waan see mama Lou... We waan see the box."
When the casket was lowered at approximately 5:05 pm, the skies were still grey.

Miss Lou was buried with her ivory heart-shaped rosary, face cloth and two sweets.

Before the vault was closed, 13 wreaths were laid on her coffin. Her step-son, Fabian Coverley, stood solemnly, while Miss Lou's great grandson Terrance and her adopted daughter Simone Watson wept openly and had to be comforted by family friends.

Among the persons who laid the wreaths were Fabian Coverley, Governor-General Kenneth Hall, Prime Minister Simpson Miller, Kingston Mayor Desmond McKenzie and Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas.

As workmen covered the vault, members of the theatrical community began to sing one of Miss Lou's favourite songs, Walk Good. They also danced around her grave singing merrily.

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