MIAMI – Retired Jamaica-born Educator, Eglantine Melita Gordon, passes in Miami (November 26, 1916 – June 10, 2010).
Born in Riverside, Hanover, Jamaica and known affectionately as ‘Mama G’, Eglantine Melita Gordon, nee Buchanan, spent the last twenty-nine years of her life living in Miami, Florida.
A member of Bay Shore Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Women Missionary League (LWML), she was recognized in her community as a matriarch.
On June 10th at 8:05pm, she passed peacefully at her home, after days in Mt. Sinai Hospital from a stroke, in Morningside at 93 years of age, surrounded by several family members and friends.
She spent most of her youthful life as an elementary school educator (at Riverside, Wesley, Elletson, and New Providence primary schools; and adult literacy instructor with JAMAL) and a Sunday school teacher in Jamaica, West Indies, after graduating from Bethlehem Teacher’s College. Eglantine enjoyed teaching in the classroom almost as much as she loved mentoring young people within and outside of her family. She was also a surrogate mother to the former Jamaican Prime Minister, P.J. Patterson, during his days at Calabar High School.
Eglantine Melita Gordon – Mama G
‘Mama-G’ was an avid supporter of the Diaspora Vibe Gallery and Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator, Inc in Miami, which is curated by her youngest daughter, Rosie Gordon-Wallace. She listened weekly to her favorite radio program, The Peoples Politics on WZAB 880AM, which is hosted by her grandson, Attorney, Marlon Hill, Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board member to Southern United States. She enjoyed the music of her youngest grandson, Gordon Myers, lead singer of The Hongs.
She is remembered as a virtuous woman-dutiful, loyal, generous, faithful and strong.
“Mom would often say, ‘It is better to wear out than to rust out”; one of the many proverbs she used frequently to make a point, start a conversation or simply to state something profound,” noted Rosie Gordon-Wallace, daughter and curator, Diaspora Vibe Gallery.
“My grandmother was a testament to some of the positive core values of Jamaican life – devout to her faith. Committed to her family, generous and compassionate, and believed in the power of education. She was a virtuous woman who lived Christ like every day of her 93 year life,” stated Marlon Hill, grandson.
She traveled faithfully each year to participate in Easter celebrations at Meadowbrook United Church, her former church in Kingston, Jamaica, and spent summers in Queens, New York visiting her daughter Patricia Ferdinand, PhD., son-in-law Donald Ferdinand and grandchildren Michelle and Andree.
Widowed from Rupert Wesley Gordon, she is survived by her three daughters-Yvonne Elaine Hill, Patricia Evadne Ferdinand PhD, and Rosie Gordon-Wallace. Sons-in-law: Tyrone Hill, Donald Ferdinand, Frederick Myers, and Roy Anthony Wallace. Grand children: Marc Hill, Michael Hill MD, Marlon Hill,Esq. and Misha Hill, Michelle Ferdinand Liu MD, Andree Ferdinand and Gordon Myers. Great grandchildren: Brianna Hill, Brandon Hill, Braxton Hill, Tereese Hill, Ezra Liu and Esther Grace Liu. Sisters Thelma Buchanan Campbell, Daphne Buchanan Henry, Essie Johnson, Emel Johnson, Ethlyn Johnson, and Lynda Shaw. She also leaves many nieces, nephews and cousins–grand and great-grand–in Jamaica, Canada, United Kingdom, the Lutheran Church and Meadowbrook United Church (Jamaica), family, neighbors and friends.
Visitation, Friday, June 18, 2010, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, Gregg L. Mason Funeral Home, 10936 N.E. 6th Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33131. (305-757-9000)
Funeral Services, Saturday, June 19, 2010, 10am. Bay Shore Lutheran Church,
5051 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33131 (305-758-1344)
Internment, Cabellero Rivero Woodlawn, 1655 SW 117th Avenue, Miami, FL 33186, (305-238-3672)
In lieu of flowers, please make contributions to The Eglantine Melita Gordon Memorial Fund, c/o, Dade Community Foundation, 200 S. Biscayne Blvd. Suite 505, Miami, FL 33131. Nicole Winter was the first recipient in 2009 of the Eglantine Melita Gordon Memorial Scholarship towards her studies at Edna Manley College of Visual Arts (in photo).
Meadowbrook United Church in Kingston, Jamaica will be hosting a memorial service in her honor at a date to be announced shortly.
