By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterTOMMY THOMPSON, chief executive officer of the Brite-Lite Funeral Service, has approached the family of 13-year-old Shawna Palmer with the offer of giving the teenager a funeral with a whopping $800,000 price tag.
And it won't cost the family a cent!
Shawna was killed by gunmen while trying to save two younger children who came under attack during a birthday party on October 27. Four other children were injured during the attack.
"When our kids are being attacked this way, the future of our country is at stake. I went to the family, and this is an attempt to ease some of their pain, to show that somebody cares," he said.
"I hope this gesture will send a clear message to society. This funeral is not just about this little girl. It's a statement to careless bus drivers, to men who kill babies, to civil society, the business leaders and the government that we will not allow our babies to be killed anymore. The life of every child is precious," Mr. Thompson said.
The trappings of Shawna Palmer's funeral will indeed be lavish with a custom-made $150,000 casket adorned with figures of white baby angels, full-colour programmes and prayer cards, floral arrangements, limousines (one donated by Island Paradise Limo and Car Rental), a Lexus jeep, Benzes and company-employed ushers.
The Lexus jeep will pull a glass-covered jitney bearing the casket and floral arrangements, as well as a couch where the members of the family will sit.
"I am thankful for the gesture... I was surprised when he did it, but Mr. Thompson is a very nice man," Maureen Laird, mother of Shawna, said.
"I was just talking about her and tears drop out of my eye. Is my only daughter and she gone. She was everything to me. She nice, nice, nice...somebody special to me... she calms me down. I saw the future in her, even at 13 years old," Ms. Laird said.
"I appreciate everybody for what they are doing, my heart is full of thanks but, as a mother talking now, not even a wonderful funeral can bring back my daughter. She gone so young..."
The funeral will be held at the Hagley Park Seventh Adventist Church, Kingston, on Sunday.
