KATHLEEN: MY COMRADE. MY FRIEND. MY LOVER

Christmas for Kathleen involved buying yet more Christmas decorations. We had boxes of Christmas decorations left over from last year … and the year before … and the year before that. But Kathleen just loved buying decorations. And then there was the ritual of untangling the Christmas lights looking for bulbs that did not work.

And don’t forget the Christmas tree. Kathleen wanted a big Christmas tree and so one year we bought one that was 9 feet tall. Now when you are only five foot two that really is a self-imposed own goal. We had to invest in a step ladder so she could reach the top.

We never got round to taking the Christmas tree down from last Christmas so, Kathleen, we turned the Christmas tree lights on for you early this year.

Kathleen talked to me about her childhood. She was born in Tobago and was initially brought up by her grandmother before she came to Trinidad to be with her mother Mary at about the age of seven or eight I think. Although there was a much older brother Jim, it was really just the two of them. From the way Kathleen always talked about Mary you knew they were tight. She would often say: if Mary was alive now she would be 82 or 92 or whatever it would be.

But life was not easy. Kathleen described times when there was literally nothing to eat, how she was often barefoot, how she would wash wares and clothes in the river. She talked about helping Mary break down and rebuild the board house that they had.

Of necessity, Kathleen learned the hard way that you had to be strong and self-sufficient. These qualities lasted her a lifetime. If Kathleen asked you to help her move some furniture in the house, you had two minutes before she started without you no matter how big and heavy the furniture was. On more than one occasion, I would come home and wondered if I was in the right house because all the furniture had been moved around.

Kathleen left school early to have her daughter Kay. But she went back at the age of 22 to take her school-leaving certificate. I was always impressed by that and it was a determination that you would see throughout Kathleen’s life.

She was strong on family. She was like a ferocious mother hen keeping an eye on her brood. When we lived in La Horquetta she kept a strict eye on her boy children Kevin and Keishon to make sure they stayed out of trouble. She thought she always knew where her boys were all the time. But at wakes, people start reminiscing, especially when lubricated with a little rum, and from a few little stories and confessions I’ve heard over the past few days, she didn’t always know as much as she thought she did about where her boys were. But she was always proud of her children and how they turned out which was very much to her credit and her strength.

And when she acquired daughters in law - Alana and Kerryann - she made a point of trying to be a mother and not a mother in law.

Kathleen included me as one of her brood. She was always frightened that I looked too much like a tourist. When a vagrant asked Kathleen for a dollar they always asked me for five. I put that down to inflation but I think Kathleen might have had a point.

If I wasn’t home by about 7.30 my cell phone would ring. “Where are you? It’s dark, what you doing out there. You know what it’s like out there. You doh have no home to come to?” The mother hen was speaking.

After a brief period of unemployment, Kathleen started working in the NUGFW initially in Cardex but eventually in labour relations. She always had a soft spot for the late Selwyn John who I think at that time would have been the General Secretary of the union. He was instrumental in employing her and I think he saw in her some potential and a level of commitment to the union.

The NUGFW was Kathleen’s life for 23 years. She made lifelong friends there. Germaine, Diane, Monica - who became a substitute mother in a way. And many others Maureen, Sherwyn, Raynard Holder, Smithy, Sudesh, Ken to name just a few. And Kay, Kevin and Keishon were all trade union babies. Brought into the union and looked after by the staff.

The next big turning point in Kathleen’s life was going to Cipriani Labour College to study occupational safety and health. It was a subject she was so enthusiastic about. There were some in the union who thought this little bakery gyal didn’t have the ability to learn, but she proved them wrong and eventually earned a BSc. She was rightly proud of her achievements. She wore the badge of a little bakery gyal with pride.

Cipriani knew that she was there. She made more lifelong friends when she teamed up with Nolan, Fay, Pat and Michelle (who became an almost adopted daughter). Typically, she organised a boycott of the computer room because it was overcrowded and there was no escape route in case of a fire. She led a delegation of students to demand to see the Director to push for improvements.

I know that Kathleen was frustrated and disappointed that she could not give back to NUGFW members all that she had learned because she had serious plans to strengthen that part of the Union’s work. But that’s another story and we will let it pass by.

Kathleen was a founder member of the National Workers Union and gave freely of her expertise to anyone in the trade union movement. She was generous with her time and knowledge. She would do site visits for any union and was a regular at training sessions.

Kathleen spent the last years of her working life teaching at the Cipriani Labour College. It was important for Kathleen that this was a labour College. It was her way of giving back to the College and to ordinary working people. She brought to that task her usual commitment and enthusiasm and a down to earth style of teaching. She taught from the heart, not just from a book.

Kathleen always knew whose side she was on and she never wavered in that.

She dealt with fighting her liver cancer with the same determination that was a feature of her life. When she was first diagnosed some six or seven years ago she worried that she would not be remembered by her youngest grandchildren, Kaniel, Keke and Demarion. She need not fear that. She’s made an impact in their young lives and I know they will always remember their granny.

Kathleen, we say goodbye to you this afternoon. Kathleen my friend, Kathleen my lover, Kathleen my comrade. But only part of you has gone. You remain in our hearts and our memories. We remember the times we have shared, your contribution to our lives and those you have touched as you travelled through your 67 years. This is what will remain with us.

Sleep well, Kathleen, sleep well!