– but COVID restrictions playing havoc with funeral arrangements

By Jeune Bailey Van Keric

BETSY Ground centenarian, Rachael Isabella Micheal, died peacefully at her home just after midday on Friday, daughter and caregiver, Barbara, has confirmed.

The passing of ‘Cousin Rachel’, as she is fondly called, has left members of her immediate family torn, not only because of her death, but due to the fact that those of them who are residing overseas cannot come for the funeral, owing to travel and other global restrictions associated with COVID-19.

What’s more, whenever the funeral date is announced, countless relatives, villagers and friends will not be able to attend the service, as the Ministry of Public Health, on April 6, issued yet another directive to Funeral Parlour Owners and Operators, advising that only five persons are allowed to attend funerals and cremations.

Initially, 20 persons were allowed, but with the daily increase in persons affected by the deadly virus, the authorities were forced to make constant changes.

According to a document signed by its Secretary, Juanita Johnson, the Ministry of Public Health told the recipients: “Please be advised that, in keeping with guidelines re: Closure to public spaces to mitigate the spread of COVIDV-19, you are asked to bring to the attention of all staff and customers that gatherings for funerals and cremations must be restricted to the maximum of five persons, such as close family members…”

This being the case, Regional Environmental Health Officer, Marvin Dindyal, took it upon himself to ensure that the operators of the three funeral homes in New Amsterdam were well informed about the new directive, which is aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus locally.

While the funeral home operators, all women, have each agreed that the dead must have a decent burial, they are all holding one head, in keeping with the Law, where providing chapel services are concerned, and withholding it.

A RIGHT QUANDARY

And with the church doors closed, too, because of the restriction, the only other option left relatives is to have the funeral service at one of their homes.

And therein lies the problem, since the police have been tasked with the added responsibility of ensuring that the public health guidelines are adhered to.

As one Funeral Home Operator observed, limiting the number of persons who can attend the funeral or cremation of their loved ones can cause long-term mental health breakdowns, which will affect them long after the coronavirus will.

“People with unresolved grief can suffer from anxiety and other issues,” she opined.
Meanwhile, with the new limitation of persons in public places now in effect, ‘Cousin Rachael’s relatives are not only tasked with arranging her funeral service, but to figure out at whose house it should be held, when considering her many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom she enjoyed a close relationship with.

Born a twin on October 23, 1919 to Henry and Ellen Georgina Micheal at the New Amsterdam Hospital, then located at Charles Place in the said New Amsterdam, ‘Cousin Rachael’ is the lone survivor of the couple’s four children. Unfortunately for her, her twin sister had died since a baby, having only lived for approximately three months after birth.
These days, all she can recall of her childhood was attending the now defunct Ghostonehall Primary School, and later Number Two Primary.

Whatever juicy tidbits were left out, her daughter, Barbara, and grandson Burnadis, were only too willing to fill in the gaps, as they’d been hearing them so often in the past that it’s now etched in their memories.

And though “Cousin Rachael” was never married, she gave birth to five beautiful children, named Ivor, Winslow, Claville, Barbara and Patrick.