Family and friends yesterday said a final farewell to a mother and son who died from COVID-19 days apart last month.
The Sangre Grande community shed tears for pensioner Joycelyn Doyle and her son Anthony during their funeral service at the Chapel of Clive Allen Funeral Sanctuary in Guiaco and their subsequent burial at Turure Public Cemetery.
The funeral was also streamed online and family and friends paid their respects virtually.
Public health restrictions limited the number of well-wishers attending the funeral.
The two coffins lay side by side as the family on hand expressed condolences and paid tributes.
Anthony Doyle’s son, Damien, paid tribute to his father.
He said, “My father was never someone who was ever vexed, he always had a smile and was always jovial. My father and I had a special relationship and I was always able to speak to him, he was my best friend, anything I could have talked to him about, anything, that is the relationship we had. I could have depended on him to give me his honest and unbiased opinion.”
Damien added: “He always said to me that my brother and I were the most important persons in his life.
“We never used to see each other every day but one thing I was sure about, when it was my birthday I would expect a call from him.”
Relatives and friends at the funeral did not hold back their tears and many cried over the two coffins.
Joycelyn Dole’s daughter, Lissie, in her tribute to her mother, broke down in grief.
“I never thought I would have lost my mother today. Everybody has to come together and love their mother no matter what because I never thought I would have lost mines and I right now, I don’t have that anymore and I ask God for her to rest in peace and for her to be as comfortable as she can because there is no more pain and no more sorrow and I don’t have a mother anymore, she is gone and I know she will be looking down on us,” she said.
In May of this year, Siparia father and son, 66-year-old Premnath and 38-year-old Nigel Ramkalawan, also succumbed to the virus just hours apart.
Also, last month, a fully vaccinated father and son both succumbed to COVID-19.
