Hundreds of students, parents and colleagues filled the Tarrant Baptist Church in Kingston on Saturday to celebrate the life of an outstanding teacher, Delores Fenton.

Fenton, a grade six teacher and vice principal at Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School on Whitehall Avenue in Kingston, collapsed during class two Wednesdays ago and died minutes after she was taken to hospital by her colleagues.

But yesterday, tributes from Fenton’s children and colleagues were poignant reminders of the teacher’s dedication and the inspiration she provided during her lifetime.

“Mommy was filled with love and commitment for her profession as a teacher,” said Fenton’s 16 year-old son, Stephen in a tribute shared by his sister, Sharelle. “Her dedication can be known and shown through her diligent work ethic during school hours and after school hours.”

The siblings read the tribute without shedding tears, using instead the wonderful memories of their mother as comfort.

Sharelle, 20, described her mother as a great woman who helped to shape the lives of many of her students.

“Mommy lived her life to the fullest and the best of her natural ability, spending it improving Jamaica by providing its doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, police officers through her dedicated and compassionate teaching service,” she said. “We can say she did all the good she could by all the means she could in all the ways she could…”

Fenton’s children also shared fond memories of their mother assisting them with their school work, while they helped her to mark test papers. They said her love for teaching even spilled over into the work she did at church, where she was a Sunday School teacher.

“Mommy was so in love with teaching she spent hours marking test papers and books after school then brought them home for phase two to let her children mark the rest,” said Stephen.

During her 30 years at Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School, Fenton served as secretary, class teacher, senior teacher, grade co-ordinator, and vice principal. She was one of the more popular teachers at the school, not just because of her winning personality, but her ability to produce students who excelled in the Grade Six Achievement Test.

“She was loyal and light-hearted,” 12 year-old Donna Lee, a former student who is now at St Andrew High School, told the Sunday Observer after the funeral service.

Swallowfield Primary and Junior High Principal Al Solan, in his tribute, described Fenton as a hard-working, dependable, well-organised woman of unquestionable integrity.

“She was a role model who was a mentor for all young teachers on the staff as she epitomised all the desirable characteristics of a truly good teacher that was worthy of emulation,” he said in a solemn tone. “She was a grade ‘A’ teacher which was the antithesis of mediocrity. She was the real deal, a master teacher who obtained the highest grade of a distinction for her performance on the job.”

He spoke of her commitment to ensuring that her students grasped what they were being taught.

“As you pass by her classroom you could hear her asking the students, “are you with me class?”, as she would time and time again go over the same concepts with them in order to ensure full understanding,” he said. “Life at Swallowfield without Mrs Fenton will never be the same. The void created by her passing will be hard to fill, and, personally, I will miss her for her organised skills and the support that she gave me over the years.”