November 22, 2024
Ocho Rios, St. Ann. Jamaica
COVER STORY LATEST NEWS NEWS

Crash kills ‘man of faith’ SHORTLY AFTER FAREWELL WITH A KISS, DEACON, BUSINESSMAN DIES ON HEROES DAY

A woman and her stepdaughters are now mourning the loss of a man, who was a beloved husband and father.

The man succumbed to injuries he received after his car overturned on the Huddersfield main road on Monday, October 17.

Dead is 56-year-old Sherin Williams, otherwise called ‘TG’, a painter and businessman of Breadnut Hill, St Ann.

According to Williams’ wife, Adilin Hermine Richards, he was trying to avoid collision with a pedal cyclist when the car skidded on the wet surface and overturned with him. A male passenger managed to escape from the car before it overturned.

Williams was more than a businessman, he was also a devoted Christian and an ordained deacon at the Grace Christian Ministry International in St Ann’s Bay, St Ann.

Ms Richards pointed out that it was on Sunday, October 16, only the day before the fatal crash that her husband had pointed out during a sermon at church that “the men were dying out.”

“He told the church ‘look in the church this morning, there are more women than men.’ And he told all the men in the church to say hallelujah, and it was low, but when he told all the women to say hallelujah it was loud… He even told the church that morning that seven men had died in Mile End where he was from,” Ms Richards explained, in an interview with The Times.

Fast forward a day later, Williams unfortunately became a statistic of the men dying in the society.

“I don’t even know what to do… I can’t believe that he is really gone,” Ms Richards lamented.

 

LAST KISS

Ms Richards recalled the moments leading up to the crash on Heroes Day (October 17). Her husband had taken a taxi to Ocho Rios to open the business that he operated. The business, TG’s Bike Parts and Accessories, is located at 20 Main Street in Ocho Rios, St Ann.

“He called me and told me that he was going to Mile End at a grave digging. But I didn’t feel like going and I told him that I wanted to lie down today,” Ms Richards explained.

The couple owned a Toyota Rav4 motorcar and at around 11 a.m., Williams came for the car at their Breadnut Hill home in St Ann.

“He kissed me and then he left. He forgot his phone and came back for it and he kissed me again and said ‘one for the road’,” Ms Richards said.

The couple tied the knot earlier this year.

AVOIDED HITTING THE BICYCLE

It was sometime at about 1:30 p.m., that Monday (October 17), that Williams and a male passenger, were on their way to Oracabessa, when tragedy struck on their journey on the Huddersfield main road.

According to Ms Richards, the male who survived the accident told her that while Williams was driving, a pedal cyclist pulled up close to the car. Williams swung away from the bicycle, but later lost control of the vehicle on the wet roadway. The car skidded, then overturned and landed in a ditch.

Williams was wearing a seatbelt and had to be cut from the vehicle by fire personnel it was reported.

Ms Richards pointed out that her husband never drove his car without a seatbelt. She said that the other man managed to escape from the car before it overturned. Williams did not get to escape and was later pronounced dead.

JOVIAL MAN

Ms Richards remembers her husband as a man, who was an entertainer that people enjoyed being around.

“He was fun loving and loved to see people laugh. He was just an entertainer. He is also a good talker and everybody wanted to hear what he had to say,” she explained, while adding that it is hard for her to cope.

It is also hard on her stepdaughters, who are 14 and 10 years of age, in coping with the death of their father.

“Everyone is just shaken and still can’t believe,” Ms Richards pointed out.

However, persons from the church and the community have been offering support to the grieving family.

“He told the church that Sunday (October 16) that ‘when we live a God a dweet. A Just God… serve him.’ And he asked the congregation to say ‘A God me say,’” she recollected.

She also reminisced on the strong faith her husband had in God as he often sang and said this was his national anthem, “Hallelujah, I’m so glad to tell my soul is well.”road