Woman falls in hubby’s arm as she dies
Alesia Edwards
Devonie Boswell Gaynor had a bubbly personality and lived a very happy life. Her 14-year-old daughter, Vanessa Gaynor, recalls that her mother always had a smile and “whenever she is in Ocho Rios, she was always smiling and making people laugh.” The 47-year-old homemaker who lived at Pimento Walk near Ocho Rios in St. Ann had no known illnesses and her sudden death last Tuesday, November 18, while in Courts doing business has left her family and friends puzzled as to her unexpected and untimely passing. They say, had she been sick, it would have been much easier to understand. The North Coast Times was told that Mrs Gaynor, who had recovered from the Chikungunya virus for some time, complained on Monday of not feeling well. She reported feeling dizzy and her feet had become swollen. Her husband Devon, who operates a taxi along the Ocho Rios to St. Ann’s Bay route said she travelled to Ocho Rios Tuesday to take care of business.
PAYING BILLS
“She call me and tell me sey she inna Courts a pay bill and me tell har sey me soon come. When me go in deh me see har with the Bay rum and smell and she sey she no feel well so she give me the bills and the money and me sey no man me have money, so me wid deal with them,” Mr Gaynor, more popularly known as Fluffy, told The Times at his Pimento Walk home. He said after he paid the bill they were on their way out of Courts, to his vehicle, to take her to the doctor when she collapsed. “Mi say, ‘Dee what happen to you’ and she sey she no feel well and she jus start go down and me just hold har so and tek time put har a ground and ask them fi call the ambulance fi me,” he said, his head hung low, adding that she started to vomit and her eyes started rolling. The ambulance came quickly and she was taken to the St. Ann’s Bay hospital. Fluffy said he arrived at the hospital shortly after and the doctors were trying to ‘work on her’. Her last request was for a call to be made her daughter Kimone who resides overseas.
Anika Rose has lived with Mrs Gaynor since she was a year old. Now 31-years-old, Ms Rose said Mrs Gaynor was one of the most jovial, caring, understanding and hospitable person she has ever come across. She had accompanied Fluffy to the hospital. She said Mrs Gaynor had requested that she call Kimone and tell her that she didn’t think she was going to make it. Ms Rose said shortly after that doctors said she had passed. “We are all still in shock, we just can’t believe that she gone because she wasn’t sick or anything like that, right now we just trying to be strong,” she said.
GOOD COOK
Ms Rose said Mrs Gaynor loved everyone and was kind to even strangers. She said people were never hungry around her as she made sure they were well fed. “Every Sunday she calls me for my breakfast and dinner, every Sunday,” she said. Ms Rose said “Reds” as most people knew her, was an excellent cook and baker. She said she also kept her house very clean and people around her had to be clean also. “You had to look good around her and your colours had to coordinate, she loved when people looked their best, that was her and she was always looking out for people, she had everybody’s interest at heart, she was very loving and kind.” Mr Gaynor said she was an excellent wife who took real good care of him and the family. “Every evening as 5 o clock me can listen fi me phone she a call and ask which part me reach and she will tell me sey she ago sort out me dinner now, she was a very good wife, a man couldn’t ask for a better wife, she was everything to me,” he said.
Fluffy said they have been together for 30 years but have been married for 15 years. He said his life has changed because of her and going forward, life can never be the same. The two are described by relatives as Bonny and Clyde. “Oh God me miss har, she was a good woman,” he said. He said people look to her every Christmas for her famous Christmas cake as she was an excellent baker. The family says she was the strength of the family as she was the first person to be called or visit if there were any issues. “She was a friend, shoulder to lean on, everything, she was always there and she is the very first person you see if its sickness or anything at all,” he said. Her daughter Vanessa said her mother was a great mom and even when she told other people no, she always told her yes.
A post mortem examination is to be done to determine the cause of death. This is the second sudden collapse in the Ocho Rios Courts store in the last two months. Millicent Ranger-Walker, Courts Customer representative died on September 19, she was considered the face of Courts Ocho Rios. She was on her lunch break in the early afternoon on Friday, September 19 when she fell over from her chair and was pronounced dead at hospital. She had not been ill.
