Anna-Lisa Paul
Two sisters who died from COVID-19 recently were yesterday laid to rest.
The funeral for Karen and Georgette Rawlins was viewed by over 700 people online.
Friends, family and co-workers were told by the officiating minister to continue the legacy they began by treating everyone with love and goodness.
As he sought to offer words of comfort and solace, the pastor urged the family to accept the word of the Lord, whom he claimed had told him, “Karen and Georgette have left the earth but their love will never leave the Earth.”
He said he had drawn great comfort from that, quoting from the Bible that while the girls were absent from the body, they were now present with God.
Karen, 42, who worked at the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Credit Union and her sister Georgette, 44, who worked at the University of the West Indies’ St Augustine campus, died one week apart after contracting the COVID-19 virus.
The duo was remembered as siblings who loved each other fiercely.
“People may not remember them by all their education and all the certificates and how lovely they look, but they would remember them by one great thing…the love they shared with one another. The love that they touched people’s lives with.”
This love was evidenced by the number of people who tuned in to the virtual service, many of whom posted messages of support and love to the Rawlins family.
The online comments also mirrored shock by a few people who only came to know about the two after they had died.
The pastor called on everyone present to live their lives with love, which he said could break down all barriers and conquer many of the problems being faced in the world today.
He said, “To cherish Karen and Georgette’s memory, you must now begin to walk in that dimension of love that they have walked into and touched lives in the earth, not just by giving something, some kindness here and some kindness there.”
Commenting on how quickly things fade away from people’s memories, the pastor said the love of the two sisters, which came from the Holy Spirit, could never be erased from the hearts and minds of those left behind.
“A believer doesn’t die, they just make a transition,” he said, as he assured that Karen and Georgette would continue their work to spread love in the afterlife.
Delivering the eulogy was elder church member Sister Joan, who described both girls as precious lives that would forever be remembered.
Georgette and Karen, who were inseparable in life and carried that through to death, leave to mourn their mother Lynette and sisters Krystal and Gabrielle.
Georgette attended St Catherine’s Girls’ Primary School and then St Francois Girls’ College and was said to be a consummate professional but a master procrastinator, who enjoyed reading and crafting, with a friendly nature and infectious smile.
Following in the footsteps of her older sister, having attended the same primary and secondary schools, Karen was remembered as an avid technology explorer always interested in building and working a device, but who tempered this with reading and crocheting. She was said to have been even-tempered and rarely raised her voice even when displeased.
Farewell sentiments were also expressed on behalf of relatives who are abroad.
