Daraine Luton & Keisha Hill, Gleaner Reporters
Left: The flag-draped casket holding the body of the late Louise Bennett-Coverley is carried out of the Coke Methodist Church, downtown Kingston, by policemen yesterday. Right: As a mark of respect to Miss Lou, Jamaicans yesterday lined the streets
outside the Coke Methodist Church to say their final goodbye. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
JAMAICANS lined the streets of downtown Kingston to bid farewell to uncrowned cultural queen Louise Bennett-Coverley.
"We love har and wi come fi see har off," said one woman. It was the sentiment echoed by the hundreds of Jamaicans who turned up to say walk good.
The Escalade hearse bearing the body of the cultural icon entered Parade at 12:36 p.m. It stopped for two minutes in front of the Ward Theatre where members of the theatre board of directors bowed their heads and paid homage.
Storyteller Amina Blackwood-Meeks was among them. "There is no losing Miss Lou," said Ms. Blackwood-Meeks.
"... She will always be present because of which she became," she added.
"Dis long time gal mi neva see yuh, cum mek wi ole yuh han" sang the crowd as the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) bearer party pulled the casket, draped in the national flag from the hearse and hoisted it onto their shoulders.
As the casket made its way into the hollowed dwelling of the church, many commented on Miss Lou's works.
Hilma Bowers said that her children were raised on Miss Lou's Ring Ding.
"She has left footprints on the sands of time that my grandchildren and others can live off her," Miss Bowers said.
Actress Sheryl-Lee Ralph, who credited Miss Lou for her early development, also turned up to say her last goodbye.
'Clap har'
Left: Actor Oliver Samuels makes his way to the Coke Methodist Church. Right: Actress Sheryl-Lee Ralph was among the celebrities who attended the funeral service. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
"I will never forget, years ago, at a gathering of friends and family, I announced that I was going to be an actress. Dead silence fell over the whole room and then one voice said 'Clap har', that was Miss Lou," said Ms. Ralph.
"I am here for this final and greatest god-given performance to say clap har."
"She was like a grandmother to me. I grow up on Miss Lou's Ring Ding. I know her. I talked to her and she hugged me. I could not have missed her funeral for anything," Patricia Martin said.
"She tried to live a clean life and we can follow her as an example and a role model for all Jamaicans," Herminia Colony said.
While it was Miss Lou's day, political representatives also stole the spotlight. Police had to restrain members of the public who tried getting close to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who arrived to thunderous applause four minutes before the start of the service.
Former Prime Ministers P.J. Patterson and Edward Seaga also arrived to grand applause, likewise Opposition Leader Bruce Golding.
The day for the most part was incident-free, apart from a man who staged a one-man protest for a copy of the funeral programme and others who scrambled to get hold of the memorabilia.
Not even the rains, which came towards the tail end of the service, could stop people from getting a piece of the action.
At 4:06 p.m. when the casket was taken from the church, cheers erupted from the crowd. Tears flowed down one woman's cheeks as she watched the casket disappear into the back of the hearse.
"Walk good Mama Lou. Mama, yu a di best. When mi si yuh, water come a mi eye," the woman said.
Left: Fabian Coverley, stepson of Miss Lou, is greeted by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller at the Coke Methodist Church in Kingston, where the funeral for the cultural icon was held. Right: Archbishop Emeritus Edgerton Clarke (left) sings over the casket bearing the body of cultural icon Louise Bennett-Coverley. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
Members of the public joined the funeral procession on its way to the National Heroes Park, yesterday. - Norman Grindley /Deputy Chief Photographer
