Aunt Emily was a warm and gentle person. She had the gift to you 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. Angelique and Simone, also on behalf of our father Huib Poot, Angelique’s husband Tomas, and our late-mother Eurica Marshall-Poot.

Posted by Angelique, Simone and Huib on July 4, 2023