IN LOVING MEMORY
A Beloved Mother, Grandmother, Sister, Aunt and Friend to so many
Emily Leveridge
AUGUST 23, 1944 – MAY 18, 2023
Mom, I miss you and I will be missing you forever because there is no one left
that can take your place. Now I’m supposed to say or recall things about you that represents my experiences I’ve had with you. Although this seems like a fairly easy task, It is nearly impossible for me simply because I literally don’t know where to begin.
There are so many things that I want to say, there are so many things that I should say. Yet there’re so many things that will not be said because
if I tried to say them all, we will be here for another lifetime. So maybe I’ll just start with a cliché: The best mom I could have had.
Mrs. Emily Leveridge was one of ten children born to parents Isaac and Muriel Marshall on August 23rd, 1944, in the parish of St. Ann where she attended school. After graduating she relocated to Trelawny where she worked as a Post Misses for a number of years.
After some time, she had her two eldest daughters, Carole and Lillieth after which she started working with the Jamaican Government as a Social Development Officer. This job required her to be transferred to various Parishes.
Thursday, July 06, 2023 at 11:00am
A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES
WE LOVE YOU, ALWAYS & FOREVER
(click images to view them larger)
My dear Emily, please rest well until we meet again in Paradise. Your smiles and comforting words will never be forgotten, not to mention those childhood days we spent together when I would spend summer holidays with your mom in St. Ann. Your encouragement to pursue further studies was what made me return to school and place me in the comfortable economic positions I am enjoying today.
– Leo Bailey (Cousin)
My sincere condolences to all of Emily’s children and the Marshall family.
Emily and I grew up together in Quenn Hythe, we went to the same church and elementary school. She was always more responsible and acted more grown up than the other children in her age group. She was definitely more mature and a leader. We lived in different countries, but since I am a part of the Marshall family and my son Dave grew up with her children we were always in contact. Emily was an example of strength, love an support for her children. She was meticulous about giving and encouraging them to get the best education possible. She was very ambitious and courageous and she instilled that value in her children and other relatives. Everyone has some sort of uniqueness about them and for Emily it was her strength, faith and positive outlook even when she was sick and suffering. She left a legacy that many of us will be happy to emulate as she is greatly missed. I am comforted that she is in a better place now. Rest in God’s Peace and Love Emily.
– Kathleen Francos Beisel
Our beloved Miss Emily will surely be missed! Miss Emily was a pillar of strength to me and her children and an example to our family. She was a hardworking, dedicated, family-oriented person who goes above and beyond for her family. Her willingness and tenacity to instill greatness in her children will always resonate with me. Miss Emily was strong, upbeat and a fighter even when she was hurting her conversations were positive and upbeat. Miss Emily was smart and was always reading between the lines and sometime could be sarcastic with it. She was not a complainer or a doom and gloom person. We spoke sometimes while she was sick and she did not sound like a sick person. I would try to express words of encouragement but she was the one who ends up encouraging me. She was the one that would take the conversations back in time and which would normally results in laughter and joy. The memory of her strength and the faith to overcome the negative things in life will be with us forever.
Thanks Aunt Emily!!!
– Dave Marshall (Nephew)
Emily Leveridge, known to us as Aunt Emily always had a smile and a warm presence to greet all. She never made you feel uncomfortable. Family time was her favorite time as we always spent time during the holidays having family dinners. Listening to her and her little sister Cecelia speak of the good old days when they were children growing up with “Mamma and pappa” their parents She always spoke about her return to Jamaica to visit her dear friends and family that she loved dearly.
Unfortunately, her return is not the way she intended it to be. Our Aunt will be greatly missed. Though her smile is gone forever and her hand we cannot touch we still have so many memories of the aunt we loved so much. Her memory is now our keepsake with which we will never part. God has her in his keeping we have her in our hearts. She will be Sadly missed but
never forgotten.
– Iona Roberts (Niece)
Aunt Emily was a warm and gentle person. She had the gift to make you feel loved, welcomed and at ease. Memories of her carry us back to the warm and breezy summers we spent in Jamaica. Every visit to aunt Emily would leave us well fed and relaxed.
Our father enthusiastically told us of his first memory of Aunt Emily, dating back to 1972, when he and our mother visited aunt Emily in Port Antonio, where she lived then and worked for the SDC as a craft teacher/extension worker in the villages of Portland. My father remembers being very kindly received by her, and the couple stayed over that night with aunt Emily. There were more visits during that period, including spending time at the beach with aunt Emily and her then young daughters Carole and Lillieth. Aunt Emily shared a special bond with our mother, as she entrusted Eurica to take care of Carole an Lillieth for a while.
Our earlies memories are from holiday visits in the late eighties and early nineties, when we as young children visited aunt Emily and her husband when they were living on the road from Buff Bay into the Blue mountains. We fondly remember swimming in the little pond under a small waterfall near her house high up in the mountains.
Another very cherished memory is our visit to aunt Emily in Portand in 2015. It was Tomas’ first visit to Jamaica and aunt Emily made him feel right at home. She had reserved a beautiful star apple for him to eat, one of the most delicious fruits he has ever had up to date. We had such a lovely time there, Tomas climbing aunt Emily’s loaded ackee tree and aunt Emily sharing her hopes and dreams with us of one day fully settling in Portland to enjoy her ocean view. But it was not the food, the ackees nor the view that gave this visit a special place in our hearts, it was aunt Emily’s warm vibe, generosity and gentle kindness that stole our hearts and made everyone feel at home.
Late last year aunt Emily made the effort to call our father several times, kindly asking how he was doing and expressing her hope of returning to Jamaica soon. She asked if she could stay in Hummingbird Villa when she would have to come for her dialysis treatment in Kingston, which of course our father happily agreed to.
Now her passing on is a reality we must face. We will miss her dearly, and hope that she is now freed from all bodily discomforts. We send our deepest condolences to all the loved ones she has left behind, and especially to her children Lillieth, Roy and Janice, and hope that she is now reunited with her beloved daughter Carole. We will never forget her beautiful gentle voice, her sensitivity, her welcoming smile and her kindness.