THE mood outside the Coke Methodist Church in downtown Kingston yesterday was one of celebration and festivity, instead of the usual gloom associated with funerals, as Jamaicans celebrated the life of the nation’s cultural icon Louise Bennett-Coverly, better known at home and abroad as Miss Lou.

The throng of people who lined the streets to pay homage to Miss Lou enthusiastically waved Jamaican flags, which, along with T-shirts bearing Miss Lou’s image, were on sale outside the church in the business district of the capital. The words under Miss Lou’s photo read “Walk good and good will follow you”.

The turnout of the sick, the lame and the lazy who converged at East Parade to bid their final farewell to Miss Lou, was an obvious testimony of the love that thousands of Jamaicans have for Miss Lou.

Casually clad in jeans, Pam, a 40 year-old resident of West Street in downtown Kingston, said Miss Lou’s contribution to society is not to be under-emphasised.

“She is more than an icon. Dem can put har pon di money, aldoa shi value more dan dat,” said Pam, as she spoke in the Jamaican dialect, the language that Miss Lou popularised.

Ann Walker and her colleague Angella Cover, both from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, told the Observer that they had been waiting in front of the church for about two hours before the start of the 2:00 pm service but that they did not regret doing so.

“It’s worth it because this is part of history. We’re only sorry we didn’t get to go in and view the body. This woman deserves to be the second heroine of Jamaica. Jamaica has lost one of its greatest cultural icons; she cannot be replaced,” said Cover.

“She was a beautiful lady; very eloquent,” added Walker.

Albert Stephens, 68, of Windward Road in Kingston, said he arrived at the church from about 12:30. “I appreciate what dem doing but shi deserve more than that and why I say that is because I always watch Ring Ding and I appreciate it ’cause shi mek whole heap a Jamaican bright,” said Stephens.

For 56-year-old Jennifer, “Miss Lou was someone I read of and talked to and she was very jovial. You could feel sad, she would make you feel glad in a second. I met her in person at the Ward theatre, I don’t remember the circumstances, but she was jovial. She talk to you like a sister, like a mother. She talk to you good and tell you to hold your head up.”

During the service, when bystanders began to complain that they had not received copies of the programme, some security personnel decided to grant them their wish and threw copies of the ‘coveted’ booklets into the crowd. But the pushing and shoving that ensued was reminiscent of the mad frenzy that occurred when money or a celebrity’s clothing is hurled into a crowd.

One woman who finally succeeded in getting her ‘prize’ said, “Yuh know how long mi ah fight fi dah programme here. Mi can have it fi show mi children and grandchildren. Shi [Miss Lou] lef ah legacy an my children might want to see (evidence of) it.”

Even small children, too young to remember Ring Ding ( the programme hosted on JBC by Miss Lou), were among the crowd outside the church. Ten-year-old Devito Keymist said he attended because “I like Miss Lou and shi love di pickney dem and shi give love to Jamaica”. When asked how he came to know about Miss Lou, he confidently said, “Because mi read di paper everyday”, a statement which made his mother, Cridgred Taffe, laugh.

Taffe, a student at Rockfort Heart Academy, said she did a presentation about the life of the renown poet just days before her death. “I did it on Miss Lou but I couldn’t find a lot of information on the Internet. I did it on Monday and she died the Wednesday,” she said, laughing. “My friends say is me kill har ’cause mi neva do it (the presentation) properly,” she continued to outbreaks of laughter from persons nearby.

Devito’s friend and schoolmate Travis Green said he loves Miss Lou’s stories and that his favourite of her poems is “Nuh Even Lickle Twang”. He said, however, that he could not remember all the words.

To this, Travis’ mother, Marven McDonald said she thinks such works ought to be taught in schools and not be reserved for particular groups. “You find that children in the drama club would know them (Miss Lou’s poems) more because they don’t teach it overall. I believe they should teach it in schools and don’t wait until the persons are dead to highlight these issues,” she said.

McDonald said that most of what she knew about Louise Bennett was learned after her death. “That’s one of the things we need to stop doing in this country; stop waiting ’til these persons are dead,” she said.

Near the end of the service, the hundreds of people in the already thinning crowd had to seek shelter in the church hall, on shop piazzas, under tents or wherever they could in order to escape the showers brought by a heavy downpour of rain. The showers flooded the downtown roads.

The ‘faithfuls’ were not to be deterred, however, as some waded barefooted through the murky waters, determined not to miss a single second of the action.

When the flag-draped casket was carried out of the church, the crowd erupted in cheers, rounds of applause and waves as they said farewell to Miss Lou.