For over 50 years, fortitude and faith were two attributes that Novia Anseta Stennett lived by.

At last Wednesday’s thanksgiving service celebrating her life, works and achievements, Stennett was remembered as a Christian woman who lived with an unquestionable character.

Sylvia Edwards, Stennett’s pastor at the Full Truth Church of God Deliverance Centre, off Shortwood Road in Kingston, said in her remembrance that Stennett was an outstanding woman.

“Proverbs 31 was the woman who she represented,” said Edward before quoting from the passage, “‘Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil…'”

Added the pastor: “She was truly a woman of God who was known by her fruits. She had an unquestionable faith and lived with virtue. Whatever her hands found to do, she did it right and with all her heart… She was a vibrant supporter of all church activities. A true humanitarian and a philanthropist.”

Stennett shared and served in the ministry of the church for over half a century.

Another pastor, Clinton Smith, also paid tribute, filled with words that powerfully reflected his lengthy friendship with Stennett.

“If you asked her two months ago (if she were to die what would have happened to her) she would have said that, ‘I am going home to be with the Lord.’ I didn’t know her as a hypocritical Christian woman… I am comforted in the fact that she died with faith in the Lord,” said Smith.

Smith ended his tribute with the song, Drinking From The Fountain, emphasising the sentence ‘she is drinking from the fountain that will never run dry’.

Tributes were also paid by the church’s women’s class, usher board, Sunday School. Mourners were more cheerful than downhearted.

Stennett was affectionately called Aunt Novi and Sister Stennett. She died at the age of 82 on May 19. She was the mother of four children and two adopted children. Along with her children Stennett is survived by nine grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, her sister Winifred Gregory and other relatives.

Stennett’s body was interred at the Dovecot Memorial Gardens in St Catherine.