A section of mourners at the Charlotte Street Wesleyan Church yesterday.

They said goodbye during his burial at the Le Repentir cemetery – the three ceremonies held in a prevailing mood of sadness and with the occasional outbursts by grief-stricken mourners.

At the viewing at GNNL yesterday, staffers dressed in mostly black and white and wearing black ribbons and other manifestations of mourning, left their desks and work posts and milled around a copper colored wooden casket bearing Lynch’s remains.

They also sang hymns and read from the scriptures and generally talked about the deceased pressman, all involved in somber mood.

Many held handkerchiefs in their hands and occasionally dabbed at the tears streaming down their faces.

Newspaper vendor of twenty five years Mr Harold McKane, who knew the deceased pressman over those years, said: “He was a reasonable fellow.”

Mr McKane, aged 76, clarified: “When I say reasonable I mean he always one way; always nice; always easy to talk to. It take me a long time to accept that he was really dead.”

At the funeral service held at the Charlotte Street Wesleyan Church, the hall was packed to capacity.

Assistant Pastor Charmaine McLean served as Narrator; Pastor Desmond Blackette as Worship Leader. The main message was delivered by Senior Pastor Reverend Dr Eldon Anderson.

Under the direction of Assistant Pastor McLean, Mr Samuel Bynoe – Assistant Administrative Manager at GNNL and a long time friend of the deceased, delivered the eulogy, while Mr Tota Mangar representing the Board of Directors of the GNNL were among those paying tributes.

Mr Mangar said the death of Mr Lynch had left a deep void in the operations of the GNNL.

“He was a dedicated, determined, industrious, and zealous worker who – over his years of service, taught himself and benefited from on-the-job experience to emerge as a top class pressman in his own right,” Mr. Mangar said.

“The Pacer 36 Offset Printing Press he operated was problematic most times but he fixed it regardless of the time of day or night he was required to do so.”

“Death cannot erase his remarkable contribution to newspaper production in the GNNL,” the Director said.

“As we mourn his passing, let us be inspired by the great legacy he left behind after thirty three years of service to the GNNL,” Mr Mangar said.

Mr Glen Lall of Kaieteur News said Lynch had made a great contribution also to the operations of Kaieteur News over the past years.

“Raymond Lynch loved printing presses, you really didn’t have to pay him. Anytime we had problems we would call him in and he would come even if it was 3 o’clock in the morning and fix it. He was of tremendous help to Kaieteur News over the years,” Lall said.

“Guyana has lost big time over his passing,” Mr Lall added.

The two-hour long service was interspersed with rousing hymns which at times seemed to alleviate the mood of gloom and grief before the deceased pressman was taken to the Le Repentir cemetery and laid to rest.