The color of red is associated love and happiness when fused with white on Valentine’s Day. However, at the funeral service of nineteen-year-old Rajeisha ‘Amoy’ Ralston, red, which was her favourite colour, was fused with black as a symbol of respect and honor for the memory of the talented young woman, who lost her life in a terrible car crash on February 21.
Hundreds of mourners filled the Clermont Seventh Day Adventist Church in Cromwelland, Highgate on Sunday, April 3, to bid goodbye to a young life that was taken away on that fateful Sunday morning. Her lover, Andre Simmonds also died as a result of injuries he received in the accident a day after.
Reports are that Ralston and Simmonds, along with her cousin, Norrel Butler and a 17-year-old driver had been partying earlier that Saturday and just about midnight were in a car leaving another party when the crash happened.
Reports from the police are that about 12:10 a.m., the teen driver of the Toyota Corolla lost control of the vehicle which ran off the road into a pasture. Ralston and her boyfriend, Simmonds, who were in the back of the vehicle, received serious injuries.
All four occupants were taken to the Port Maria hospital where Ralston was pronounced dead. On Monday, February 22, Ralston’s boyfriend, Simmonds, succumbed to his injuries after being transferred to hospital in Kingston. Ralston’s cousin was later released from hospital, along with the teen driver.
The mid-morning thanksgiving service which began sometime after 11 was tingled with moments of emotion, several touching tributes and calls for young people to give themselves to the Lord.
Members of the netball team of the Marymount High School, for which Ralston played while attending the institution, remembered her as being “a brave and strong leader and a stalwart in her own right.”
Members of the Highgate Police Youth Club, where Ralston was the sports coordinator hailed her for her volunteerism.
“She was kind, loving, caring, jovial and a very vibrant individual,” explained a member of the club.
There were also several song selections done as tribute to her memory.
Norman Gordon, who gave the remembrance, reflected on Ralston’s fearless character and described her as an individual, who not only excelled academically, but at sports, as she was active in athletics and netball at the Marymount High School.
The eulogy was read by teachers of the Marymount High School.She was born on August 30, 1996 and was the third child for her mother, Wendy Barrett and the second child for her father, Maurice Ralston.
Ralston was described as very outspoken, but had a charm that would easily win over anyone. Her dream was to become an entrepreneur.
In his homily, Pastor Gordon Lindsay, while offering condolences to the family, reminded them that “God was in charge.”
Rajeisha ‘Amoy’ Ralston was later interred at the Tremolesworth cemetery in Highgate, St. Mary following a march from the church with the Skyliner Marching Band providing back up.
