“You can shed tears that she is gone

Or you can smile because she has lived

You can close your eyes and pray that she will come back

Or you can open your eyes and see all that she has left

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see her

Or you can be full of the love that you shared

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday

Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday

You can remember her and only that she is gone

Or you can cherish her memory and let it live on

You can cry and close your mind,

be empty and turn your back

Or you can do what she would want:

Smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

— She is Gone, By David Harkins

THOSE soulful words elicited smiles, nods of approval, and occasional sobs as a packed Constant Spring Seventh-day Adventist Church paid final tribute to Lillian Slue at a thanksgiving service for her life on June 9.

Slue, 58, died in hospital on May 19 — a week after her younger brother Winston ‘Tata’ Robinson, who was murdered outside a bar on Manning’s Hill Road, St Andrew. She suffered a stroke after hearing the tragic news.

Hundreds of mourners — many from the Whitehall Avenue community where she lived — turned out to pay their last respects to Slue, who was affectionately called ‘Angella’ and ‘Gella’ by those closest to her.

There were many sad moments as tributes were paid in speech and song. She was eulogised by her sister Ann-Marie Robinson as a caring mother, whose “children and grandchildren were often spoiled by her generosity”.

“Angella has five children. As they got older she was still there when they needed her. No matter what the situation or challenge they faced, she was their refuge. She would do whatever it took to help out her children. Although all her children are all grown, living their own lives, she still shares, willing whatever she has with them. She always prepares Sunday dinner for her three youngest children and, if any of them does not visit for their dinner, she would take it to them on Monday,” Robinson said.

There was also mention of her love for the kitchen.

“Angella loved to cook; she cooked 24/7. She cooked when she had things to cook and when she had nothing. She knew how to, as we say in Jamaica ‘tun you han an mek fashion’. She shared her love for cooking with her grandchildren, nieces and nephews. They recalled how she taught them how to cook and make a variety of juices. She was the main chef for her mother as she knew exactly what to cook for her,” Robinson said, adding that Slue always had a listening ear.

The service was officiated by Elder Donovan Hanson.

Slue was interred at Sunset Burial Park in Shooters Hill, St Andrew.