Slain pig farmer gets emotional send-off

Sunday, November 08, 2009 1:00 AM

News

BY COREY ROBINSON, Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, June 29, 2009

PIG farmer Greg Gordon was yesterday laid to rest after an emotional funeral service at the Worldwide Church of God in Portmore, St Catherine.

Tears for dad: A family member comforts Greg Solomon Gordon, son of slain pig farmer Greg Gordon, as the boy cries during his father's funeral service yesterday at the Worldwide Church of God in Portmore, St Catherine. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)

Gordon, better known as Farmer Greg, was sent off in a fancy glass casket adorned with pictures of the pigs he spent the last minutes of his life attending to.

The disheartening reality of his passing sent ear-splitting wails through the packed church, even from people who did not know him, but had only heard and read of his story.

He died at age 32, too short a time for Megan Henry, his sister-in-law, who broke down in tears after reading a very short eulogy that reflected on Gordon's 'workaholic personality'.

"That's all I have; that's all I can say about him. They didn't give him a chance for me to write any more," said Henry, as she quickly left the alter, tears rolling down her cheeks. She found comfort in the arms of Gordon's wife, Nadine, who was also in tears.

The tears streaming down the women's faces jolted the late farmer's four-year-old son also to tears. The youngster had to be taken from the church.

Prime Minister Bruce Golding, who headed the mourners, which included minister without portfolio Daryl Vaz and South Central St Catherine MP Sharon Hay-Webster, described Gordon as "an icon, a symbol of hard work".

Said Golding: "One of the reasons why we pay so much attention to him is because Farmer Greg is a symbol of what you can do, of what you can achieve, when you are prepared to go the straight and narrow and work hard.
It is a statement of the assistance you can receive if people see that you are willing to work hard," he said.

"He had the courage; he had the confidence in himself to believe that he could make it on his own because he knew the capacity that he had for hard work. And he believed that if he could muscle up and work a little harder he could make it," Golding said.

The prime minister reiterated his promise of assistance to Gordon's family, his business and the youngsters who work on the farm.

In the meantime, Golding, addressing 'tensions' said to be brewing within the farmer's family over the property, said they would be doing the farmer's memory a great disservice if there was "any hauling and pulling over what he died leaving and who was to get it".

Gordon gained public attention last year when the government offered him several acres of land to relocate and expand after he complained that his pigs were being stolen from his farm that was located along the Dyke Road in the municipality.

His life was cut short, however, when he was gunned down last month while doing what he did best - attending to the pigs on his farm.

Gordon's brother has since been charged with murder in connection with his death.

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