A Tribute to our Dear Departed Cousin, Mrs. Icilda Barnes (nee Bailey) [Aunt Cilda] It is my esteemed honour to be graced with the opportunity to acknowledge the exemplary life which was led by Aunt Cilda. However, I cannot do so without immediately remembering and calling the name of her beloved late husband, Brother Gilbert Barnes. Literally, the two became one flesh and remained happily so until death. They remain to me a heavenly symbol of marriage. My brief comments are contained under the headings of the relationships that she formed and maintained with: • Her Lord • Herself • Her Husband • Her Family • Her Work and Community She loved her Lord above all. She understood that if she did not love herself she could not love anyone else so she prayed to God for self love and a calm spirit. He granted her the desires of her heart. She was to us all a lady full of love and the embodiment of a calm personality. In the words of Horatio Bonar, she had “The Inner Calm” Calm me my God and keep me calm, While these hot breezes blow; Be like the night-dew’s cooling balm Upon Earth’s fevered brow. Calm me my God and keep me calm, Soft residing upon thy breast, Soothe me with a holy hymn and Psalm And bid my spirit rest. She was a woman of prayer and she prayed for a good husband. God made a match for her in heaven with dear Brother Gilbert. Their relationship was personal, special and private. It has been said that ‘chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together over the years.’ They were truly sewn together. Her family benefited from the rock, the anchor of the wonderful relationship between their special parents. Aunt Cilda’s children knew a calm and strong mother and they have gone out into the world as well adapted persons. She was a very modern woman; a professional secretary, farmer, Church and Community woman, driver and entrepreneur. She truly knew how to multitask yet she was never rushed, harassed or miserable. In closing, I pay tribute to the Barnes couple for being both tender and strong. Brother Gilbert always used Morgan’s Pomade so that his hair could be well groomed for his wife. She drove a Land Rover van- that symbol of strength. God’s continued blessings to you in the hereafter and to the loved ones that you have left behind. Jennifer P. Bailey Martin October 4, 2014, Mt. Oliphant, Manchester, Jamaica.