This is in memory of a special Aunt who was also my Godmother. I lived with her during my elementary
school years  in Clonmel. Uncle Headley was the Head Master & she was my teacher. I was not allowed
to speak Patwa because that was not proper English. I am glad she insisted on that because that set the
foundation for being proficient in English Comprehension. I did not know the spiritual side of her until she
visited me in California, 2006. I took her to choir practice & the choir director invited her to sing with us.
She was thrilled & everyone loved her. She also attended the Tuesday night & Wednesday evening Bible
Study. Both groups were delighted to have her because of her input. I know she's missed here on earth
because of her caring attitude toward each person. She makes time for things that seem unimportant to
others. What a legacy to leave behind. I know she along with other choir directors is conducting the
heavenly choir. Love & miss your infectious smile.
Your niece, Gloria 

I marvel at how she cared:cared even for a thief who stole her property and in police lock-up........cared whether he had eaten and took breakfast for him.


Being badly injured which later became fatal, she was concerned about the bike rider......encouraged him to hope for the best, that the worst doesn't happen!


I am not at these points in my Christian journey yet.....my emotional state would not lend me to care for anyone else but myself in situations like these.    


I admired Mrs. Henlin for the attitude displayed in these situations and more.  I am praying that God will help me to get there!     Forever inspired.....supported by
"REACH" by Gloria Estafan

Celebrating Mummy

Eunice Idona Henlin

February 9, 1925-March 20,2012

Beginnings and Endings

Oftentimes, stories like this begin at the beginning, the birth, the early days and more. Inspired by the apostle Paul, absent from the body present with the Lord, this one begins with what may have seemed to be an ending but truly in many senses a beginning.  As I visited my mother, on Saturday the 18th, I saw men painting the house and enquired…why are you painting the house?  Well, she says when your mother dies the house must look good. And In those closing moments what a picture, as lying in the doctor’s office she prays……“Lord if this is the time, I am yours, take me.”  A few hours after, she tells of a miracle, the absence of pain, only the presence of discomfort and soon she slips from this life, absent from the body, present with the Lord”,  the beginning emerging from the ending.

How was this all possible?

The early years….information

By the time she was born, the peasantry was engaged in a struggle to ensure that successive descendants of African slaves would grasp the opportunities of formal education via the celebrated Elementary schools system. Young Eunice Taylor, daughter of Miranda Collins popularly called "Sweet Mouth" and father Eustace Taylor of Lucky Valley, had become known in the district of Hampshire as a bright, articulate, and sometimes, bossy little girl. In time, she would be crowned with her own name, Honey Girl. Honey Girl soon lived with Mrs. Brown, a strict, precocious, proper, no-nonsense woman, her aunt who immediately set to make her into a lady.

Life in Hampshire was about church and school, first the Baptist church under the inspirational leadership of the late Edmund Greaves, after whom she would in time, name one of her sons. But because Mrs Brown, her aunt, was an ardent Anglican, she soon became part of the St. Savior’s Church in Harewood under the pastoral care of her beloved Canon Hay.  It was in the Anglican Church that she blossomed into the work of the church and in her words, she often fantasized in church that whenever she got married, her sons would serve as acolytes, assisting the bishop and then in time, one of them would become Lord Bishop of Jamaica. But that never happened, at least, not yet.

She was an outstanding scholar and passed her Jamaica Local examinations, first at school with Teacher Nation and then with Teacher Walters, who was so careful about her academic preparation that on being transferred to Mocho in Clarendon, took her to live in their family home. She soon enrolled in Bethlehem Teachers College and would become a student leader in what she describes as some of the best years of her life. Now armed with her certification in teaching, she set her mind on a long career in teaching which was to last over four decades. The story is told of that day when on return to her hometown after graduation, she walked along by the shop corner and here a group of youngster seeing her passing, a voice shouted…“a how she so criss?” Mummy stops and turns to them and says..."the word is crisp”.

Raising family and families

Miss Brown had visions of a young academic in the making and urged her not to get married quickly but instead to further her education, though they both knew that it would be difficult seeing that her guardians and parents were but simple land farmers and dressmaker, tailor and a cook...  Soon after graduation she received an invitation to the graduation ball being put on by the Mico Teachers College and there met a young country man, Headley Henlin. She thought nothing of him at first but like a true Henlin, he persisted until he won her heart and then marriage in 1954 at the St. Andrew Parish Church. Young Headley had been Baptist all his life but Canon Hay, her pastor, had insisted that any man worthy of marrying young Eunice had to become an Anglican. So there goes our father attending catechism faithfully until after marriage, they saw him no more. The early years of marriage, first living in Philadelphia then onto Clonmel, were expected to be the years of childbirth and family. Alas! those first years were marked by persistent trouble. She became pregnant five times in the first five years and each time after bringing the child near to birth, each one died. Those events were to have a tremendous impact on her faith and her family life in the future to come. Faced with the difficult decision of submitting to a hysterectomy, Eunice with the encouragement of life-time friend nurse Campbell, refused to believe that she would never have children. So Doctor James Burrows of Medical Associates offered to conduct a medical experiment with her and in time would submit his findings to an international medical journal, for by the next year Chester, a healthy boy was born. And so soon after, almost every other year the rest of us came, Karl, Jacqueline, Janice, Michael and Shawn and none offering any challenge at birth. What seemed like an ending had indeed become a beginning. There are some of you here who know that she was forever talking about her children... she told us that it was because when everyone else had concluded "no children", God did it and she would rejoice in that to the last day of her life.

She and daddy were a couple fit for each other. She was dashing and daring, up front and dynamic, he retiring, shy and very cautious. She was positive, filled with energy and laughter. She had tons of dreams for her family, but if timid Dad said no, she would pull back though she often told us “I listened to your father too much".

Growing up with Mummy was an experience in discipline, love and service and devotion to God. She had often said that she was not called to be a friend of the children but a parent and would insist on proper manners, etiquette, discipline and learning and yes, of course church. Friendship she said could come later when you all learnt how to conduct yourselves. And there was no escaping her influence. We had her as schoolteacher, as Sunday School Teacher as Choir Mistress and as Mummy. There was no escaping Mummy and she modeled for us service, love and faith in ways more than we could tell today. And her buzz word was one she created broughtupsy. We are to so conduct ourselves that everyone knew we had broughtupsy. Can you then imagine the bacchanal in the home when she learnt that Mike had skipped classes and gone to the sea with his friends? The son of the principal?

In the home she insisted that we speak properly etc. Mother celebrated our successes and journeyed alongside all her children when failure and disappointment attended our lives. We knew that whatever happened we could depend on her. Many were the hours she spent praying to God in the early mornings for her children right up to her final day.

The story is too long, too long to be told of economic hardships, living on the salaries of two teachers. We learnt that one chicken was enough to feed nine persons, that one frankfurter carefully and equally cut down the middle, could serve as a hot dog and that whatever we had could be shared with others. So on Saturdays, every Saturday, we knew the Johnsons would eat with us and on Sundays, we had to carry dinner to Miss May , Miss Aggie and others before we could settle down to eat.  I learnt a painful lesson one day when I came home and reported “Mummy, Miss Marie White gave me a big bag of cherries”. So Mummy says "good where is it"?  I answered “I ate it off”  -  well I got quite a lashing.

We learnt in the home, the gift and power of prayer and worship, for it was she who led the Sunday morning devotions, teaching us songs and hymns and the scriptures.  How well we remember “Jesus wants me for a sunbeam” and all of us singing, “I’ll be a sunbeam for him”. And when she preached at church we were sure to hear our names featured in some story told to the church as a point of application. Truly she was the house pastor and spiritual director of our home.

Our home became the home for numbers of other families. Soon after marriage there was Vivienne then Talmy, then Debbie, then onto countless others, the Forrester girls and then the numerous street persons who were confident that just a shout at the gate “Miss Henlin!!!”  would ensure a gift of a meal for the day. She became counselor and friend to many who sought her advice, especially the young people, and she served with delight. We found it a great source of pride to bring our friends home to St. Mary for holidays or just for a passing visit and all were welcomed especially when my brothers began to bring home a procession of female friends, all on their way to be daughters-in-law, while prospective sons- in-law kept their distance until they were sure of Daddy Henlin.

Mummy did her best to ensure that her children learnt domestic duties of cooking, sewing, keeping their places clean and most have done well in that regard.

Concerning her role as grandmother, she remembered each one of them on their birthdays, calling to sing the birthday song, sending a card by post long before the time, ensuring it reached on time, sending a financial gift and offering a prayer. She was extremely proud of them and boasted to friends about their every move. Her care both for her children, now adults, and her grandchildren, manifested in the very close relationships she cultivated with the ladies who worked in all our homes assisting us when they were born. Joyce, Miss Dell, Mary , Donna,  etc. -   all would receive calls unknown to us, enquiring about the work and offering tips or else challenging about their faith in God as if  she were still mother in charge.

Serving the cause of church and community

It was the church, the school and the community, which enlisted so much of her life and gave her so much joy and satisfaction. When Chester was born, he was baptized as an infant in the Anglican Church. Once again Daddy gave in to his fairly new bride and “allowed it” but by the time Karl was born he declared not this one. This one must be blessed at the Baptist Church (and there my destiny to be Lord Bishop disappeared). Soon after moving to Oracabessa, Mummy was immersed at sea one morning by the Rev. Michael Woosley and there began her formal re-association with the Baptist Church. And what an association! The Women’s Federation, the choirs, the Sunday School - she became everything to everyone in the church. Meanwhile at home we had the assignments to write out the songs for the choir each week since there was no photocopier. Each child Chester, Karl, Jackie and Janice would write 5 copies each and if our writing lacked legibility, we would have to re-write so that the choirs would have words to sing on Sunday. In that way, we all learnt several songs of the faith but more, we learnt the virtue of serving even if under duress. Our mother loved the Lord and loved the church and even when we had all moved out and wanted to have her spend extensive times with us, she would cut short her visits saying, “no I cannot stay any longer we have our annual Church Rally, I must be there!”, or else class meetings, choir practice, Parish Federation, etc.   She believed that serving Christ through the church was a calling from God and only illness, which we can’t ever remember her being ill, could prevent her.

The wider community also benefitted from her service. The 4 H Club in Highgate in the late fifties to early sixties, the Retired Teachers Association, the Church Women United, the Jamaica Baptist Women’s Federation, the Basic Schools where she served, a liaison on behalf of the Jamaica Baptist Union, these and more offered to her the chance to serve.

In the school, she served at Retreat, Philadelphia, Clonmel, and Oracabessa as principal and at Ocho Rios as Vice Principal and then succeeding Daddy as Principal.  Both she and daddy would tell us that they tried to treat everyone’s child as they would wish their children to be treated. Again her hallmark was proper speech and decorum and she maintained in her students a love of learning and a commitment to excellence. Past students in various generations have all have testified that “Miss Henlin was mi mada" as so many of them made our home their second home

Endings and Beginnings

Sometimes endings are beginnings. She lived for her Lord and is today gone to be with Him. She leaves behind to mourn her passing and to emulate her life the six of us, Chester, Karl, Jacqueline, Janice, Michael and baby Shawn. With us ten grandchildren, one sister, 2 sons in law and three daughters in law scores of nieces and nephews relatives and friends.  Our hearts are broken badly, our lives disrupted suddenly and with pain, our spirits have been crushed, we have wept with anguish and sorrow but Mum taught us about the Christian faith and about a place where sorrow and sickness and accidents are no more and to the end, she lived and died in the Lord.

Khalil Gibran the prophet writes:

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

We are grateful to many who enriched her life by their friendship and kindness. In this regard no praise is too high for Sharon Laing our neighbor for all these 40 years and to Melody Samuels who came into mummy'  life three years ago and who loved and served  her as they lived together. My mother was extremely proud to have had her in the home. In many ways they were made for each other

We who remain have much to gain from the legacy to us a family. We have got to hold together, for that so often delighted her to see how her children lived and loved. Perhaps for us, her ending can be a good beginning if we would re-embrace her faith in God which inspired her to love without reservation, to serve without reluctance and to live without regret.

Struck down but not destroyed... safe in the arms of Jesus.

Below are excerpts from a tribute to Eunice Henlin who died recently after she was hit down by a motorcycle.

MRS HENLIN'S journey has come to an end. Oracabessa has lost one who had assumed the figure of a community mother, teacher, friend and counsellor. As a teacher, Mrs Henlin was dedicated in an extraordinary way.

She cared for all children and was never selective in the distribution of her love for them. She gave impartial advice to them and their parents in the same way as she did to her own. A strict disciplinarian, but discipline was always tempered with love and justice. She believed that no child should be denied an education because of financial inability and so she willingly shared her meagre income in assisting needy students who showed potential to excel.

She would also remain after school hours to help those who were very slow and who would otherwise have been lost in the general stream. Many of those students are today holding prominent positions here in Jamaica as well as in countries across the world.

The community of Oracabessa remembers Mrs Henlin as an outstanding Christian giantess whose stature belied her boundless energy. She was involved in every sphere of church and community life. She was the common factor of every church in the community. She demonstrated in no uncertain way that Christianity is a way of life. Through her lifestyle, she preached many sermons as from her veranda and her gate she encouraged, guided, exhorted and even reprimanded those who passed by.

Oasis in the desert

The Henlin's house could be likened to an oasis in the desert. There was where the oppressed or depressed found words of comfort and cheer. She took literally the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 25.

There was where she addressed the varying needs of members of the community. She had a keen eye for detecting need and was always quick to respond. Like the widow of Zarephath, she did not withhold her meal and oil, and God blessed her abundantly as she lived a long and fulfilling life. But her caring attitude was not always appreciated. She experienced times of ingratitude and adverse criticism, but that did not deter her, for whenever or wherever an opportunity for sharing and caring arose, she acted knowing that her sole aim was to help others and to give glory to God.

There were times when people wondered if she was not taking things too far. I'll cite one example:

In the wee hours one morning, policemen returning from patrol spotted a youngster leaving Mrs Henlin's yard with lengths of lumber on his shoulder. They stopped him and questioned him. Being dissatisfied with his explanation, they took him to the police station. At day break, Mrs Henlin got a call from the station informing her of what had happened and instructing her to check for any breaking-in, then to come to the station to identify the pieces of lumber. Sure enough her storeroom had been broken into, and lumber was missing. A little later she went to the station carrying a bag. Before she went to look at the lumber, she said to the policeman on duty, "officer, has he had breakfast yet?" In that bag was breakfast that she had prepared for the very one who had invaded the privacy of her home. How many of us women would have done that? Mrs Henlin practised what the Gospel directs:

Do not resist an evil person. Love your enemies and pray for those who hate you.

The presence of Jesus

This is the mettle of which this woman we remember today was made. It was the presence of Jesus in her life that made the impossible possible. Mrs Henlin was a genuine person. She was full of life and laughter. She was loyal to any cause she supported. She was trustworthy, reliable and honest.

The community of Oracabessa has lost a friend and role model. We give thanks to God for the opportunity we had to meet and interact with her. The Bible tells us that all who remain faithful to the end will inherit a crown of life. Mrs Henlin was faithful to the end.

Near to the end of his life, Paul said that it was better to be with Christ than to remain on earth. Yes! Separation is painful, but as Christians, let us not grieve as those without hope. Rather let us rejoice even with tear-filled eyes because our dear friend has taken up a new residence with her Lord.

May her soul continue to rest in peace and may light perpetual shine upon her.