By Robert Hart, Staff Reporter 
Members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force carry the casket of the late Alva Ross, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, after an official funeral yesterday at the Webster Memorial United Church. - Norman Grindley/Staff Photographer
FORMER SPEAKER of the House, Alva 'Siney' Ross, was laid to rest at the Bethel United Church in Highgate, St. Mary, yesterday after an official funeral attended by family, friends and political colleagues at the Webster Memorial United Church in St. Andrew.
Ross, who served five terms and 22 years as member of Parliament for South East St. Mary, was remembered as a principled and caring man, father and politician.
STANDING TALL
"The true measure of this man was in the height of his ideals, the breadth of his sympathy, the depth of his convictions and the length of his patience," said Dr. Ken Baugh, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) colleague, who gave the eulogy.
JLP Chairman Senator Bruce Golding, in his tribute, noted that Ross was a man with an imposing personality who, both literally and figuratively, stood tall.
Nephew Charles Ross pointed out that the former speaker, a 6-ft 4-in giant, rejected violence and skullduggery in politics. But it was his daughter Marlene, who provided the most emotional tribute on behalf of her family, as she quivered throughout a tear-filled remembrance.
EMOTIONAL TRIBUTE
"It broke our hearts to lose you, but you didn't go alone, because part of us died with you," she told her father, whose Jamaica flag-draped casket lay at the centre of the church.
To the mourners she said: "Anyone who knew our dad, knew that he did everything by the book and above board."
The emotional tribute was punctuated by the subsequent musical interlude of Luther Vandross's sorrowful Dance With My Father.
Among those who attended were JLP Leader Edward Seaga and Trans-port Minister Robert Pickersgill (on behalf of Prime Minister P.J. Patter-son), who did the readings along with young Alexander Tavares-Finson.
Also present to pay their respects were JLP MPs James Robertson, Andrew Gallimore, Mike Henry, Everald Warmington and Karl Samuda, as well as JLP Senator Prudence Kidd-Deanes, Generation 2000 President Chris Tufton and former JLP Senator Frank Phipps.
