THE community of Barking Lodge gathered at the Port Morant Methodist Church on July 1 to say their final farewell to Amelia Williams — a woman who many in that section of eastern Jamaica hail as a mother to all.

Williams passed away on June 12 after a battle with hypertension and diabetes.

She was 82 years old.

Although Williams did not get much formal education she made sure that her children gained the most they could from their educational opportunities.

Williams’ daughter Enid Williams, remembered her mother as a blessed soul whose love for Christ ensured that she lived by the biblical verse: A soft answer turneth away wrath.

“She was a very quiet person, a staunch Christian. Don’t care what they did to her she never retaliated. She will be sorely missed,” Enid Williams said.

Williams attended the Barking Lodge Elementary School and soon after learnt the trade of sewing and for a while worked as a seamstress.

But Williams’ main occupation was working as a household helper for Jamaica’s first Prime Minister and national Hero Alexander Bustamante at his Retreat, St Thomas home.

Pansy Scott, Williams’ niece described her as a caring, selfless person during her delivery of the eulogy.

Scott said Williams gave up the opportunity to travel to the United Kingdom in the 1950’s and instead opted to take care of the children her siblings had left behind.

“She was a mother not only to her children but raised other children, in the community including nieces and nephews who parents had gone away,” Scott said.

Williams also snubbed an invitation from Bustamante to accompany him him to Kingston when he became prominent in the trade union and politics.

Popularly called ‘Aunt Amelia’ or ‘Eya’, Amelia Williams met a young Clarence ‘Pow’ Williams and the two tied the knot in December 1963.

The union produced 12 children.

Her husband and two of her children predeceased her.

Amelia Williams was remembered as a true warrior for God and was a lifelong member of the Barking Lodge Methodist Church.

Her remains were interred in a family plot at Barking Lodge a day before her close friend and colleague, Esmina Duhaney, was laid to rest in the same district.