If I have wounded any soul today.

If I have caused one thought to go astray,

If I have walked in my own wilful way

Dear Lord, forgive.

— The Evening Prayer (M Battersby)

THIS was the last song performed publicly by renowned Jamaican soprano, Beverly Dexter as she led the choir during communion at the Universal Centre of Truth in St Andrew on Sunday morning.

Church member and fellow musician, Michael Sean Harris recalls that Dexter seemed fine as she sang and therefore it came as a surprise that he would wake up yesterday morning to the news that she had passed. “I am in shock,” Harris told the Observer, “from reports she suffered a heart attack at home and died in the early hours of Monday morning,” he added.

Another soprano, Pauline Forrest-Watson, was at a loss for words when the Observer contacted her late yesterday afternoon. “I can’t find words to describe the way I feel… I am saddened by this loss.” She noted adding that her own husband, renowned bass baritone, Curtis Watson who suffered a stroke some years ago was not taking Dexter’s death very well.

Dexter was still recovering from a stroke she suffered two years ago.

Forrest-Watson also reflected on reports that Dexter sang The Evening Prayer in church just hours before her death. “I hear she sang her heart out… it’s as though she was singing right into glory,” she said.

Long-time friend of Dexter and soprano, Dr Lucette Cargill, was clearly shaken when contacted. She explained that she had heard the news of Dexter’s death just minutes before and therefore was just beginning to process it. “This is such terrible shock, we are poorer for this loss, as she was one of Jamaica’s finest.”

Cargill remembered Dexter as a wonderful singer, whom she said was an inspiration to her in her musical endeavours, and recalled them performing together at the Christmas concerts, Beverly Dexter and Friends.

Meanwhile, culture minister Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange, has described Dexter as “one of the shining lights of Jamaica’s national performing arts”.

She recalled that Dexter’s talent in the area of music performance was noted from the time she was a student at Franklin Town Primary School under the tutelage of Daphne Vidal-Smith. She performed and received many medals and trophies in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission National Festival of the Arts; and also received the Sibthorpe Beckett Scholarship to the Jamaica School of Music.

“Over the years, Mrs Dexter has been a part of several choral ensembles such as Y Chorale, Youth Fellowship Singers, Jamaica Folk Singers and Diocesan Festival Choir, but it was as a soloist that she distinguished herself and became one of the most sought after performers on the national stage. The nation has lost a brilliant performer.”

Minister Grange expressed condolence to Dexter’s widower Noel, himself a distinguished Jamaica musician, her daughter Carol and the rest of her family.