Delano McFarlane remembered as a cheerful, loving individual
IF she had the power of preserving life or resurrecting the dead, Jasmine Clayton, mother of Delano McFarlane, would have done one of the two for her eldest son.
McFarlane, 29, died in a car crash along the Retreat main road in Westmoreland on March 30.
Clayton, like hundreds of mourners on April 19 gathered to celebrate his life at Alexandria Wesleyan Holiness Church located in Bessie Baker, Westmoreland, thought he was taken before he could fulfil all his dreams.
It was a bitter and painful atmosphere among the mourners within the church, as McFarlane laid lifeless, dressed in full-white clothing with a black durag covering his head, in a brown and gold casket for public viewing.
Many of his relatives and close friends from Bessie Baker, Westmoreland where he lived all his life, were in disbelief that one of their most treasured and hard-working youths would no longer laugh and chat with them.
Upon seeing his lifeless body, mourners from every demographic of his community, especially women, wept uncontrollably.
His sister, Koltia McFarlane, said she and her brother, affectionately called ‘Keva’, were close friends and the way his life ended was a bitter pill to swallow.
“Keva was a loving, kind and gentle person. He was always smiling. I’m sure you all here can attest to how jovial he was and always had a smile before greeting us. It would have been better if you were granted more time with us and taken in another way. A more peaceful and calmer way than the crash. However, it’s all in the Master’s plan which we have to respect,” McFarlane said.
They are the only siblings born from the union between Clayton and his father Domingo McFarlane, and grew together for the first nine years of Kadean’s life in Bessie Baker.
“Keva lived his life by the fruits of the spirit the Bible speaks of. They are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control,” she added.
Reverend Valyn Jolly, in delivering his sermon, also gave his tribute to the youngster who once attended the church.
Jolly said McFarlane was respectful, always smiling, always caring and was always concerned for his neighbours.
“He was one of the most pleasant persons who walked the streets of Bessie Baker. He was always saying ‘Pastor what a go on now?’ when he saw me. I used to respond by saying ‘Keva, you need to come back to church’. And he would say, ‘Pastor, me soon come’. Believers it is difficult when someone you know passes, especially someone so young,” Jolly said.
Clayton waited until the sermon ended before walking and offered a tribute.
“I pray to see my son one day. Although I pray for guidance for my family, I tell myself that we live in a real world, so we can be hit with the unexpected. But when I heard ‘you son never make it’ I cried,” the hurting mother of three said.
Clayton implied that many mourners present at the service were still upset with the owner of the car in which her son was killed. However, she, a Christian, wanted them to forgive the individual.
“Me have to move on past this,” Clayton said.
“Him gone and me just give God glory and praise his name. Forgive and move on with God, too. Me leave it all in Jesus’ hand. There are things that are being said, but I have forgiveness in my heart. Whatever is done is done,” she said.
Following the service, McFarlane’s remains were placed in a sepulchre in a family plot in Bessie Baker.
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