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Saturday, December 22, 2007
Calvary Moravian Church, Roebuck Street, St. Michael, Barbados
Thank you for coming to celebrate the blessing of being touched by the life of our mother, Elva Ernesta Wilson. It is clear that while she mothered me, James, Megan, Lloyd, Roslyn, Andrew and Adrian, she was also the second mother to many of you, and a genuine friend of even more.
In a way, each of her children exemplifies a part of her character. We remember her high standards. Two days ago, Dean told me: “She was a loving grandmother, but if you wanted to see her vex? Be late.” Those high standards are clear in the professionalism and quality of the service of Downes and Wilson Funeral Home and its leader, the gentleman, James Wilson. Her love of fashion was well known, and this is evident in the queens, her daughters, Megan and Roslyn; and Andrew has the quiet strength and determination that we saw in mum. We know that mum did not have an easy life, but her challenges strengthened her, and if you walked into a room and hadn’t met her before, she was one of those people that were easy to talk to, and when you did, you liked her. Adrian’s delightful personality is such that, no matter what, you have to love him.
Elva Wilson was also a matriarch. Many of our friends and neighbors from Charnocks, to Maxwell, St. Mathias, Constitution Road, and Christ Church High School, all called her mum. She mothered many when she worked at the Child Care Board. She was house mother at the Reception Center of the Nightingale Home. At Campwood Children’s Home in St. Philip, which she named, she was “auntie” to the children. She was the second mother of Lloyd’s friend, James Husbands, who actually lived in our home for part of his teenage life; and at Downes and Wilson Funeral Home, the staff with whom she worked, did not address her as Mrs. Wilson, to them she was mum.
Apart from being the best cook in the world, we remember her as the bed rock of our father, Lloyd Wilson, and the one who quietly worked with and enabled him to run his Frozen Joy business when we lived in Baxters Road, then Lloyd’s Cash and Carry in Tudor Street where he sold potatoes and onions, then in the late 50’s and early 60’s he became the agent for Gramaldi Siosa Cruise Ship Lines on which thousands from Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean emigrated to England. Then his store at 44 Swan Street, and his real estate holdings. She is the woman behind that successful business man.
Mum had the ability to tune into your feelings, even if you said nothing, and if you needed to talk, she knew how to encourage you to, and how to listen. The stories and tributes to her that we have heard during the past few days have been heartwarming, and probably the most common statement has been – she was my friend.
Music was Elva Wilson’s passion. She studied at the Doris Provencal School of Music, and in London, at the Royal Academy School of Music where she earned distinction in voice and theory.
In New York, she studied piano and voice at Manna House, and was a member of the Unique Music Society, Schubert Music Society, and was resident soloist at the First Moravian Church in Manhattan.
In Barbados, mum founded and directed the 30 voice Child Care Board Choir, and was a member and soloist of the Aeolian Singers. She was resident soloist of Christ Church Parish Choir, and the Christian Science Church, Bell Canto as well as the Moramus Singers.
We remember mum as being a proud member of the Calvary Moravian Church and going to choir practice, not just when James and I went to Roebuck Boys School under headmaster George Maynard, but she has been going to practice all her life.
Mum’s love for music clearly rests in our brother Lloyd, who is a pianist by profession. Her last foreign performance was in Germany six weeks ago, where she sang accompanied by Lloyd.
Mum is also known as a poet and hymn writer, and we are grateful that over the years, and today, choirs here and throughout Barbados have sung here songs. Her tunes and lyrics all convey her appreciation of little things, loving and supporting others, an appreciation god and nature, and that wonderful feeling that we experience when we sing Christmas carols, a favorite hymn, or an old or new song that we like.
It is the spirit of that joy of singing and listening to music that mum wanted us to feel at this thanksgiving service to celebrate her life. From this moment on, when ever you feel that joy from singing or listening to music it will have an added special element, you will be experiencing the blessing of being touched by the life of a loving mother, nurse, musician and friend – Elva Ernesta Wilson.
Markly Wilson
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By ORLANDO “GABBY” SCOTT
It is traditional for us who live in Christian communities to speak well of the departed during ceremonies such as this morning’s thanksgiving service.
And I wish to suggest that every glowing tribute and every superlative spoken of Mrs. Elva Ernesta Wilson is true and deserving. How do I know you may ask? To explain to you why I made such comments I must roll back the years.The Wilson Family moved to the village
we call Charnocks in Christ Church sometime in the 1960s. They had recently relocated from the United Kingdom. The Wilsons were unique. They spoke with a British accent. They wore shoes when most of us, the young people who they befriended, were barefooted. They lived in the biggest bungalow in Charnocks and we, their friends, lived in chattel houses.
Where does Mrs. Wilson feature in all of this? Sometime during the 1960s, the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation launched a television station, and the Wilsons made the error of installing one in their home. It was, I believe, the only television set in Charnocks at that time, and we, who had grown up on, and were fascinated by, the Mobile Cinema – and the comics Bud and Lou – which used to be shown, occasionally on spots like Coverley Plantation yard or Lowther’s Plantation yard, now had nightly entertainment upon which to feast. I can’t recall who, among us broke the news about the Wilson’s television set, but what I do recall is that we, the young ones, invaded their home akin to the invasion of the Nazi German forces on Europe during the late 1930s. Girls and boys, who had the liberty to leave home (at nights), stormed the Wilson family home to feast upon shows like Bonanza; and throughout our invasion and occupation, Mrs. Wilson and her brood exuded an unbelievable warmth and spirit of compassion. Whether it rained or not we were there. Her attributes rubbed off on her children who opened the doors for us. And not, withstanding their relative wealth, all of the Wilson children mixed freely with us all.
It’s only after I grew up and began to reflect on what we did as children, and feeling, sometimes, a little guilty, that I began to treasure what a sweet, adorable and unselfish woman that she was. And on each occasion that I saw her, I begged her for a hug and a kiss and told her thanks for her beauty of spirit and selflessness, particularly as I recalled we literally ransacked her living room.
I wish to remind all of her children – particularly the older ones like Markly, James, Megan, Lloyd and Roslyn – gathered here this morning that they have a wonderful legacy put in place by a beautiful and compassionate mother.
May the choir of Heaven receive her!
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By Shelley-Ann Best & Family
Miss Me, But Let Me Go
Author Unknown
When I come to the end of the road,
and the sun has set for me.
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little—but not too long,
and not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that was once shared.
Miss me, but let me go.
For this is a journey we all must take, and each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the master’s plan, a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of heart, go to the friends we know.
Bear your sorrow in good deeds. Miss me, but let me go.
The Balm Of God's Love
by M.S.Lowndes
When we lose someone we love
The loss seems too great to bear
God sends us friends to comfort us
To show that He deeply cares
But in the dark hours of the night
When there’s nobody else around
When we feel the saddest and loneliest
It’s there God’s love can be found
It’s like a soothing, healing balm
To soothe our broken hearts
The healing oil poured over us
That flows into every part
We can rest secure in God’s love
And know He’s by our side
He holds us when we feel as though
A part of us has died
We can know that God will listen
When we just want to talk
And when we feel we need to cry
We can share it with the Lord
For He is always waiting there
Ready with arms open wide
As we pour out the hurt within
He pours His love inside
Our Father above loves us so much
And will never leave us alone
He will not forsake us in our need
To face this on our own
He comforts us and strengthens us
And rubs us with His balm
And as the dawn breaks through the night
We’ll awake in His loving arms.
I trust that you find strength in God's love just as I have and though life may not always be what we want it to be, remember that he is always there with us. We are not alone. God is walking beside us.
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