SASCHA WIL­SON

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

Re­nee Mitchell was de­scribed as a beloved ed­u­ca­tor who had a pas­sion for teach­ing, a love for her pupils, and a per­son­al­i­ty that left a last­ing im­pres­sion.

Hay­den Franklyn, the prin­ci­pal of Brighton An­gli­can Pri­ma­ry School, in La Brea, gave a glow­ing trib­ute to her dur­ing the fu­ner­al ser­vice at St Paul’s An­gli­can Church in San Fer­nan­do.

Last Sat­ur­day Mitchell, 39, at­tend­ed Il­lu­sion’s Solset: Su­per­no­va Pre­mi­um Drinks Fete at San Fer­nan­do Hill with her com­pan­ion Pe­ter Ribeiro. She re­port­ed­ly went to re­lieve her­self be­tween two hedges and slipped. She fell some 150 feet down the hill.

The moth­er of two chil­dren, ages 16 and one, died at the San Fer­nan­do Gen­er­al Hos­pi­tal.

Franklyn re­called that Mitchell be­gan work­ing at the school in March 2014. She worked there for nine years. He said she had a pas­sion for her pro­fes­sion and an in­fec­tious per­son­al­i­ty that won the love of her col­leagues and pupils.

While she found hu­mour in every­thing, he said, “One thing she took se­ri­ous­ly, how­ev­er, was her love for her chil­dren. She con­sis­tent­ly mo­ti­vat­ed them and en­cour­aged them to do their best. She as­sist­ed them in any and every way pos­si­ble rang­ing from fi­nan­cial to emo­tion­al as­sis­tance. She al­ways made them her num­ber one pri­or­i­ty and they ex­pressed their love and ap­pre­ci­a­tion for her by bring­ing bags of man­go when­ev­er man­go was in sea­son.”

The prin­ci­pal re­called that Mitchell loved danc­ing and sports.

“She was a true gem and a gift from God,” he said.

Mitchell’s friend Crys­tal John-Phillip urged mourn­ers to ho­n­our her by mak­ing the best of their lives.

“For it mat­ters not how much we own, the cars, the house, the cash. What mat­ters is how we live and love... Be less quick to anger and show love and re­spect to peo­ple in your lives,” said John-Phillip.

Fa­ther Harold Dick­er­son en­cour­aged Mitchell’s pupils to be strong.

“I know you will grieve. I know you will cry. Just re­mem­ber Miss Mitchell would have want you to do it this way, that way or the oth­er—work hard for your con­tin­ued de­vel­op­ment. Work hard to ex­cel so that you, par­ents and teach­ers, as well will be hap­py with the per­for­mances that you will bring forth in the years to come.”

Giv­ing words of com­fort to the fam­i­ly, he told them to al­low Mitchell’s bub­bly per­son­al­i­ty to be part of their mem­o­ries of her.

“She made a great im­pres­sion in so many per­sons’ lives in the past 39 years,” he added.

Dur­ing the ser­vice, Mitchell’s pupils sang a song in trib­ute to her and her friends and rel­a­tives wore jer­seys with her pho­to on them.

She was lat­er buried at Roodal Ceme­tery.