SCORES of music industry persons and a wide cross-section of the society yesterday attended a music-filled, soul-stirring and lengthy ‘home-going celebration’ for music activist, the late Louise Fraser-Bennett.

The large congregation assembled at the Windward Road Pentecostal Gospel Temple in eastern Kingston heard tributes from various speakers who remembered Fraser-Bennett for her indomitable spirit, forthrightness and assertiveness.

Fraser-Bennett died on October 12 in the University Hospital of the West Indies from complications of the heart.

An imposing sign over the pulpit of the church advertising its 2003 convention came across as if it was designed for the occasion. It read: “God, the faithful God, brought us out, to bring us in.”

Setting the tone for the memorial service, Bishop Dr Carmen Stewart told the congregation: “Although we mourn her loss, this service is a service of rejoicing.”

In obvious reference to Fraser-Bennett’s conversion to Christianity some time ago, Bishop Stewart added: “The good thing is that God saved her and then took her home. Sister Louise Fraser-Bennett is not dead, she is alive with the Lord.”

The president of the Jamaica Federation of Musicians (JFM), Desmond Young, remembered Fraser-Bennett as a woman with a “sense of justice”, before he was overcome with emotion and was at a loss for words.

For Winston “Wee Pow” Powell, president of the Sound System Association of Jamaica, which Fraser-Bennett founded, she was “a strong Jamaican woman who could accomplish anything she set her mind to”.

Audrey Patrick, president of Presidential Click Promotion for which Fraser-Bennett was public relations officer, spoke of how she (Patrick) and other young persons from the inner-city were encouraged by the deceased to rise above their circumstances.

Patrick highlighted as one of the legacies of Fraser-Bennett, her contribution to the staging of the annual Champions in Action stage show to raise funds for inner-city programmes such as computer training for young people.

An officer of the South Camp Road Correctional Centre remembered Fraser-Bennett as a thoughtful and caring person who was always a source of strength for inmates, not only at South Camp Road, but at other correctional centres.

University lecturer, Dr Carolyn Cooper, in her eulogy said that the story of Lousie Fraser-Bennett, whose life had gone through a transformation, was a story of forgiveness. Dr Cooper recalled how she had recommended Fraser-Bennett as the next Folk Philosopher for the University. “Louise would be the first woman for that position following after Mortimo Planno, Robin “Jerry” Small and Mutabaruka, who is the present Folk Philosopher, but that was not to be.”

The Jamaica Labour Party spokesperson on culture, Olivia “Babsy” Grange, cried as she said that “I’m only sorry that Louise was never able to do all the things she wanted to do before she died”.

Of course, the occasion, dubbed by Bishop Stewart as “the home-going celebration”, could not have been complete without its fair share of music.

The congregation responded warmly to renditions from singers such as the Rev Carlene Davis, the Grace Thrillers, Nadine Sutherland, saxophonist Errol Hird and the Ready Fi Buss Crew, as well as musical items from the church choir.

Among the entertainers who came to pay their last respects to Fraser-Bennett were: deejay Trinity, bandleader Frankie Campbell, Shirley McLean, Tommy Cowan, Charmaine Bowman, and Angella Stewart. The mourners also included music industry persons such as Winston “Merritone” Blake, Junior Lincoln, Charles Campbell, Colin Leslie, Dennis Howard, Claude “Big Stone” Sinclair, Owen Brown, Ken Nelson, Lorna Weinwright, journalist Balford Henry and politician Mike Henry.

Notable absentees were Ninjaman, Bounty Killer and Ghost, three of the more prominent artistes whose careers were developed under Fraser-Bennett’s management.

A number of persons expressed surprise and dismay at their absence. “How come none a dem nuh deh yah, it’s total disrespect,” said a disgruntled mourner.