Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer

Bloodshot eyes and heart-wrenching wails from convulsing relatives set the tone yesterday as they remembered a mother and her four children who died when their home was washed into the Sandy Gully late last month.

Skeeta Young, 34, and three of her four children - Keniji Boyd, Kevonnie Bailey and Sydonnie Bailey - were laid to rest yesterday afternoon, just over two weeks after a tropical depression, which evolved into Tropical Storm Nicole, swept through the island.

Young's friend of 22 years, Otis Williams, shared one of her final intimate moments with the congregation, pushing many persons over the edge of sadness.

"She said one thing to me, that she would like to get baptised if she could have that chance," he said.

At that, a church-woman approached one of Young's aunts with a handkerchief to wipe tears from her cheeks.

"I go down there 2 o'clock and water was in the gully. Before Skeet pass off, I go down there and we sing three songs," Williams said.

He then led the congregation in one of the songs, bellowing the lyrics: "'One bright morning when this life is over, I will fly away home ... .'

"Oh my God, is like she did know what was going happen," a grieving woman said quietly.

Early-morning tragedy

It was around 4 in the morning on Wednesday, September 29, when word spread that three houses had been washed into the gully after its bank in Sandy Park, St Andrew, collapsed in the dark.

Fourteen-year-old Keniji's body was discovered under the collapsed roof of the house in the gully later that day.

The bodies of Young and her common-law husband, William Bailey, 42, were recovered days later, washed up in Seaview Gardens.

House Speaker Delroy Chuck, the government representative in attendance, lamented the loss of a young woman he met more than 15 years ago.

"The Saturday before, I was walking in the community and she stopped me exactly at the house and she said that the gully needs repairing," said Chuck, the member of parliament for North East St Andrew, where the tragedy unfolded.

"We looked at the gully, but what was amazing (was that) through her very hard work, she had built a magnificent structure right on the gully bank. It was a two-storey building sitting right on and just over the gully bank. You could see she was scared, too," he said.

Williams, who feverishly wiped away his tears, took the opportunity to set the record straight for those in attendance.

"Skeet always waan come off the gully bank. She just never get the chance," he said.

All four coffins, two with pink trimmings and the others with blue, side by side, made for a tight fit at the front of the Sandy Park Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Fun-loving kids

Tricia Grant, a friend of Young's, baulked at the sight as she made her way to the podium.

"Lawd, have mercy," she said repeatedly. "Oh God!"

In her remembrance of the three children, cousin Megan Johnson described them as fun-loving.

Keniji, 14, loved football, cricket and dominoes, and played rugby for his school, New Day Primary and Junior High.

Sydonnie, five, loved to eat sweets and play with dolls. She wanted to be a teacher when she grew up.

The youngest, Kevonnie, four, was the polite one who always reminded persons to "tell mama morning".

However, as family members seek closure, there is one more child, Brandy Boyd, 11, who is yet to be found.

But not even that can erase memories of screams of the mother of four, crying out for her own father amid the roar of her house as it collapsed.

laura.redpath@gleanerjm.com