Tribute
Phyllis was a woman with a sense of practicality and a no-nonsense approach on
many issues and positions. She was also full of empathy for humankind in her
daily attitude in approaching matters. Phyllis was also a true family person, and faithful to friends. There was also a mischievous side to
Phyllis which I will tell about.
I will illustrate two stories which speak about Phyllis not in entirety, however these two stories have a nice sense of her humorous side.
My dad George now passed promised to buy a new Bicycle for me. Before he
went to the store, he picked up Cousin Phyllis from work at the Canadian High
Commission . Now I can only imagine the conversation between them. Phyllis:
“You must be Mad, You gon buy Rowan a new bicycle? They gon teef it. Come leh
we go to Joee, he does have some good second hand bicycles.”
Later they picked me
up from Tutorial High school drove me to Joees second hand and bicycle repairs. I
was stunned the bike was an old time “Preggie” - woman’s bike - converted to a
man’s bike with a welded bar across. The good news is when I took her home I got
a few laughs; then along with my friends in the neighborhood we painted her yellow and
called her Yellow Bird. Yellow Bird became a hit.
