Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter
Policemen comprising the bearer party carry the bodies of Louise 'Miss Lou' Bennett-Coverley and husband Eric Coverley, on their arrival from Toronto, Canada on an Air Jamaica flight at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, yesterday. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer
At exactly 4:20 p.m. yesterday, the bodies of the uncrowned cultural queen of Jamaica, Louise Bennett-Coverley and her husband Eric, arrived back home to Kingston, Jamaica.
The bodies of the beloved 'Miss Lou' and her husband were aboard an Air Jamaica flight from Canada where the two lived for several years before their deaths. The bodies were transported back to Jamaica to be buried at National Heroes Park in Kingston.
From about four o'clock, a small gathering of friends, government officials and well-wishers converged on the ramp at the airport, awaiting the arrival of the airplane transporting the bodies.
When it arrived, the pilot opened his window and attached a small Jamaican flag to it that fluttered silently as members of the police force marched up to the plane.
The two black caskets containing the bodies were also draped in Jamaican flags. The members of the police force, dressed in official uniform, hoisted the caskets unto their shoulders and placed them into two black hearses parked nearby. The gathering gave a round of applause while this was happening. Several persons also snapped pictures of the caskets.
Miss Lou died at the Scarborough Grace Hospital in Toronto on July 26. She was 86. Eric Coverley passed away in 2002. His body, which was buried in Canada, was exhumed and will be reburied at National Heroes Park today at 4 p.m.
Louise Bennett-Coverley is to be accorded an official funeral at the Coke Methodist Church in Kingston at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. She will be buried beside her husband.
Famous for her radio shows, including Laugh with Louise, Miss Lou's Views and The Lou and Ranny Show with Ranny Williams, she was also celebrated for her 1970s children's television show Ring Ding.
