SHE might have been known as the mother of Jamaica’s eighth prime minister and wife of a renowned parliamentarian, but Enid Louise Golding was yesterday eulogised as an icon in her own right — an accomplished career woman, homemaker and beacon of the family.

The words “May the work I’ve done speak for me” engraved on the lid of the cherry-oak casket bearing the remains of this stalwart at the thanksgiving service at the Church of the Holy Trinity in St Catherine, were fitting for the woman, who seemingly left an indelible impression on the many lives she touched.

Yesterday, hundreds flocked to the quaint little church, located a stone’s throw from the Old Harbour town centre, to pay their last respect.

Twenty minutes besfore the scheduled 10:00 am start, the church was filled to capacity with numerous officials and well-wishers, while the overflow from tents pitched outside the church spilled unto the street.

As Prime Minister Bruce Golding and his family entered the church, he strode purposefully to the flower draped casket to stare lovingly at the woman he seemed to have idolised. Instinctively, he reached out and cupped her face in his hand before taking his seat.

The tributes given by the great grandchildren, grandchildren, children, nieces and nephews and her past students depicted the multi- facetedness of the woman. For some, she was an excellent educator, to others a generous grandma and a self-reliant woman who never met a challenge she could not handle.

And if her husband Tacius Golding was the icon of the family, Mrs Golding was the rock who kept her three boys — Trevor, Bruce and Tony — in line while instilling the values they now hold dear.

“To God be the Glory, she was a great thing He has done,” was how the prime minister concluded his reflections of his mother who died on September 14 at age 91.

For him, she was a jack-of-all-trades and master of several who hardly ever came upon a mechanical or electrical problem she could not fix.

“She would dig up the ground and fix a broken pipe or push a lawnmower better than any man,” he recalled.

But while she was the consummate homemaker, Mrs Golding was yesterday remembered as the founding principal of the then Old Harbour Junior High, a terrific teacher of English, history and geography and a co-author of a prescribed text.

The prime minister, whose reflections of his mother was coloured with humour at times and sadness at other intervals, painted a picture of a young teacher who left her home in Queensbury, St Elizabeth, to take up a position at Ginger Ridge Elementary in St Catherine.

And as if her destiny was already defined, she fell in love with the headmaster almost immediately and a year later walked down the aisle with the man she would spend 52 years with, broken only by his death in 1995.

As one who found a solution for every challenge, he recalled his mother riding eight miles a day on a bicycle to get to and from the Watermount Elementary School when she started teaching there.

When she later took a job at Alpha Academy, the boys moved with their mother to Kingston, as their father would not relocate from his constituency — having held strong to the belief that a member of Parliament must live among the people he represents.

It was then that Mrs Golding took the lead role of growing up the boys. There were the regular trips to Denbigh and Dunn’s River Falls, fishing on the Palisadoes, kite-flying, the driving lessons and shopping for Christmas gifts for every member of the family.

“She taught us not only the joy of giving, but the obligation to give,” he recalled.

When the family relocated to Old Harbour to be with their father, Golding said, their mother would personally drive them to school in Kingston and would at times take the opportunity to teach them to drive by, allowing them to side-steer at a very young age.

Mrs Golding was the disciplinarian, recalled the prime minister, as he recounted the fun stories of his brother Tony wearing his shirt unbuttoned so he could easily slip out of it when she tried to catch him.

But she was also frugal, and an ardent Christian who took her children every Sunday to sit in the second pew at the church where she was eulogised yesterday.

And when she had to go away to study in England, the prime minister recalled her sending a letter home each month to a different son.

One line of a letter, which was reproduced in the funeral programme read, “God’s blessings on you. Love as always. Mother.”

And although Alzheimer’s disease robbed her of her memory in the last few years, which resulted in her residing at the Pine of St Joseph’s, the prime minister said it was a pleasure just to visit with her.

“Just being able to sit with her and see the glint in her yes and the smile on her lips and the tight firm squeeze of her hand, that meant a great deal to us,” he said.

He publicly thanked her caregiver Marcia Roberts, whom he said had ably cared for her over the last nine years.

Meantime, Trevor, a medical doctor and her eldest child, said the concept of no child must be left behind had been embraced decades ago throughout his mother’s teaching career.

For him, she rejected the idea that “a child was too dunce to learn” and would give many extra lessons in her quest to see them excel.

As one who despised hypocrites, liars and thieves, Trevor said, she taught her boys to be respectful to everyone regardless of their status in life.

“Rest well, little mom. I miss you,” he ended.

The youngest son Tony, a business man, could not fight back the tears as he remembered the woman he said was dedicated to family. “I will miss her terribly, but as I look around at the children and grandchildren and myself, she has not really left us; because a large part of whom she was lives in us,” he said.

“You have served family, career, God and country with dignity, you now rest in serenity and peace,” he said.

Among the other relatives who paid tribute were granddaughter Sherene Golding-Campbell, who described Mrs Golding as a friend, confidante, advisor and mentor and one who was organised and focused, no matter what the plan was.

Tributes were also heard from her niece Blossom Ormsby and students of Old Harbour High.

Principal Lynton Weir, who gave a tribute on behalf of the past students, said she instilled positive values in the school and community which will long be remembered.

Weir remembered her as the first person to implement a first work experience programme in a school, and said she eventually pioneered the movement to have the institution upgraded to a high school.

Bishop Harold Daniels, who gave the homily, said she was a woman of faith who knew how to love and trust her Maker. “And that was the greatest and most important qualification,” he said.

Mrs Golding’s body was later interred in the St Dorothy’s Church Cemetery in Church Pen Old Harbour.

Among yesterday’s mourners were Governor General Sir Patrick Allen, Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller; Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Dr Christopher Tufton; Education Minister Andrew Holness; Finance Minister Audley Shaw; Information Minister Daryl Vaz; Member of Parliament (MP) Karl Samuda, other government and Opposition MPs, as well as former prime minister, Edward Seaga.