sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Forty-seven-year-old Tara Lochansingh, who died saving her granddaughter’s life, was remembered as a hero and an angel during her funeral service yesterday.
Despite torrential showers, relatives, friends and well-wishers came out in their numbers to pay respects to the mother of one during her funeral service at the house of mourning in Navet Village, Rio Claro.
Lochansingh perished on August 1, when what was supposed to be a fun family outing turned tragic after she and her only granddaughter, Ariah, found themselves in deep waters in the Matura River.
Lochansingh was able to get the child to safety before being swept away. Her body was found in the river the following day.
Giving words of comfort yesterday, her cousin-in-law Ronney Lochansingh assured mourners that based on Ariah’s account of what happened that fateful day, they were “absolutely sure” Lochansingh is in Heaven.
“We have an eyewitness who saw her being escorted up to heaven by an angel and it was five-year-old Ariah who saw when Mama Tara went down in the water on that tragic day and she saw angels with wings take Mama Tara up to Heaven.”
He said even when relatives tried to explain that her grandmother had died, she said, “No, Mama Tara is not dead. Mama Tara is with Jesus in Heaven.”
Covering his face with a rag as he cried, Lochansingh’s only child, Brandon, sat beside her coffin, along with his wife Sasha, his father Rajesh and grandmother Radha.
In her eulogy, Lochansingh’s daughter-in-law Sasha said she considered Lochansingh to be a second mother who had also treated her like “the daughter she never had.” She said her mother-in-law was her “partner in crime,” and would forever be in her heart. She also included reflections from relatives, among them Lochansingh’s husband, son and granddaughter.
Lochansingh’s husband said, “Tara was my best friend. My life partner. I never wanted to spend a waking moment without Tara by my side. There will always be an empty space in my heart.”
Brandon said, “My mother was my backbone. She always pushed me to be better in life.”
He added that his mother supported him in all his endeavours.
“She was always the life of every party and the light in my life. Half of my heart is in Heaven with my angel,” he said.
Relating the various places her grandmother would take her to visit, Ariah, in the eulogy, expressed her love for her.
She said, “Mama saved my life and she is my hero. My mama is an angel in heaven with Jesus.”
In her sermon, Pastor Janoor Ramroop, of King’s Glory Church, said just a couple weeks ago, he was at their home to celebrate the one-year memorial service for Lochansingh’s father-in-law Basdeo.
Recalling asking those gathered who believed in Jesus, he said Lochansingh was one of the first to declare her faith in Him. Encouraging those gathered to commit their lives to God, he said Heaven was real and death was not the end of anyone’s story.
Following the service, the funeral procession, which included a music truck, proceeded to the cremation site at Mafeking Village in Mayaro.
