Family prepares for Mama Christie’s funeral

Even as the family of the late Constance 'Mama' Christie are busy making plans for her last rites, they are also getting ready to welcome their brother Rexton 'Shabba Ranks' Gordon, who will return to the island for her funeral.

"We here painting up the building upstairs and downstairs and putting everything in place because, yuh know, the big man soon come and we want things to be proper. If Rexton miss everything else, him cannot miss Mama funeral. Mama was him heartbeat," said Leopold 'Chunnie' Hartley, who was at his mother's house in Seaview Gardens.

He didn't disclose the date for his brother's arrival, but shared the tentative dates for Mama Christie's funeral.

"We know that the Government going to have a press briefing on March 22 and if things free up, then the dates we have are April 9 to 11. We plan to have a viewing at Pastor Blair Deliverance Centre at 104 (Waltham Park Road) on the Saturday. Mama church is in Seaview, but it is a part of the Deliverance group," he informed.

DATE AND PLACE OF BURIAL

Sunday, April 11, has been pencilled in as the day the family will officially lay to rest the matriarch, whose kindness is legendary and who has been hailed as the 'Mother of Seaview'. With Shabba leading the way, the family will travel to her birthplace in Sturge Town, St Ann. She will be buried in the family plot.

According to Hartley, the residents there are also in preparation mode. He explained, "They are looking about Mama's sepulchre and making everything nice. My brother is ensuring that all that is needed, we get it. The family feel better to carry her to the country, especially because when the ban on funerals lift, it going to be a mad rush for everybody. So, best we just get away from all of that. And we asking people to wear dem mask, and social distance. We don't want what reach other entertainer to reach Rexton."

Hartley disclosed that Mama Christie's death had brought the family closer and said he knew that his mother would have been extremely happy for that.

Mama Christie, 81, had been ailing for three years and passed away on February 23 after a short stay in hospital.

- Y.P.