The Eulogy of Mr Jefferson Wallace written by son Stanacius Wallace

I have been to so many funerals where I would look forward to my father taking the time out to toast the departed. To leave a reassuring word with the family who mourns and lighten the mood of the somber event. Although I knew that someday it would be our turn to do the same for him I never expected that day to come so suddenly or so soon. It is however as God planned it to be so let me take the time to toast our father, our brother, our husband, our friend, our dearly departed, Mr. John Jefferson Etkinson Wallace.

Jeff, as most persons came to affectionately call him, was born on July 5th 1949 to parents Obediah and Theodosha Wallace. He was the fourth of nine siblings. Hastings, Melora, Shirley, Jeff, Yvonne, Thomas, Dorrette, Kenrick and Carolyn. Hastings did not grow up with the others but the trio of Shirley, Melora and Jeff were for a long time together before the others came along. They had a very tight relationship. They kept each other's secrets. The mischevous trio didn't always favour their parents with the truth but always covered for each other. When he accidentally hit his sister with a rock in the head, the story that he aimed for a bird and missed was enough to satisfy his parents.

He had a healthy appetite and never turned down an opportunity to cook or to be around when the dumplings were placed in the pot - thereby ensuring that the number given to him was always a fair share.

Today I will not prolong the stories nor make long winded mention of the many accolades and honorable mentions which he held to his name, but I will today simply speak of Jefferson Wallace, the man, the father that I knew.

So many times people observe from the outside and assume X, Y and Z. Stones are cast whether justifiably or unjustifiably. We on the inside are the ones who see, experience and feel the true essence of the dynamic life of Jefferson Wallace. He was a good man. I would dare say he was a great man. He was human. None of us knows what inherently drives people in life to take the directions which they sometimes chose but if life did not have its hills and valleys, highways and byways, it would not be life and it would not in any way be worth living.

Jeff was an avid reader and a prolific writer. At that time, he alone in his family was privileged to join the library and to attend school everyday without fail unless illness prevented it. He made the best of this privilege and you could tell the difference in his boisterous arguments and dramatic story telling. His foundation proved to be the creative base for his later positions as a teacher, a preacher, writer and an artist. Its was my intention this year to publish the manuscripts for his poems and jumbie stories for his birthday this year. He may not be here but this is something which I will ensure happens in his honour.

For daddy, everything was always about learning. He spent so much time instilling in us the value of knowledge and of making something of ourselves. "The heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept were toiling upwards through the night." We heard that as he would wake us to study in the wee hours of the morning. It wasn't easy but it helped to develop in us a sense of discipline. When we raised animals and had a garden, we awoke early to tend the animals and work at our various tasks in the garden. We looked at it at the time as being hard but as we grew we realized that it was helping to mold us into better persons.

Daddy was not all work. We had so many fun times together. Spending time with us was important. He loved westerns and Kung-fu. Saturdays was Kung-Fu night on USA network and Sunday after lunch we would sit and watch westerns. There was no need for a sofa when daddy was around because he was our sofa. We all sat on the floor and everyone would find a place to rest a head or just get an arm in. He is the reason too that I don't like playing Dominoes. He may not have been the best player in the federation but he knew how to read a board. Every game turned out to be a case of, you play this card, you play that card, you pass, thank you Domino!! We always lost but it was so much fun.

He was an avid cricket fan and an excellent player. We always admired watching him play. I vividly remember one day the young men of the village made the mistake of calling him old as we played cricket on the pasture and they invited him to bat. He went to his car and took a wooden club a little thicker than a broom stick and took the crease. The first ball went sailing over the boundary and was never found. Bowler after bowler tried and failed. To this day they still trying to get him out. Every chance we got we were playing cricket. I think he may have been grooming us for West Indies but we never really took it that seriously.

Daddy had a love for the old hymns of the faith. He loved to play them and he loved to sing them. It was with his coaxing that we started playing music ourselves. He always enjoyed playing with us and watching us sing and play music. We always sang together as a family and we developed the ability to harmonize and make beautiful music together. That is something we always enjoyed doing. One day we will all sing together again and the melody will be even sweeter than its ever been.

You have left behind a legacy of reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration. Your life is an example of God's amazing grace and tender mercies. Yours is a life to emulate. May your witness be widespread and serve to show others that in God there is always hope.

Today we have lost our father, our brother, our cousin, our friend our husband but we rest assured that one day we will see him again for "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" We grieve today because we are human and we need to in order to heal. 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 says

13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

What we have here in front of us is just an empty shell. We are here to celebrate his life and give God thanks for taking him unto Himself. We know that we will meet him in the sweet by and by so today we say, sail on daddy physically you may not be here but you will never die. We carry you with us in out hearts forever and we look forward to our reunion.

We love you!!!

We miss you!!!

May you rest forever in eternal peace!!!