‘Visionary’ Marcia Erskine remembered as mourners celebrate PR guru’s life

Former Prime Minister P J Patterson, inside the University of the West Indies (UWI) Chapel on Saturday, summarised best the thoughts of mourners who gathered to celebrate the life and work of the late public relations guru, Marcia Erskine.

“In the many eloquent and deserving tributes that have been paid in the media and online, there is one word that consistently recurs - ‘Excellence’ - and justifiably so. That search, that insistent and relentless pursuit of nothing, but the best is what featured in every aspect of her life and the immortal memory we must pledge to cherish and preserve,” Patterson said of the Trinidad-born Erskine, who chose Jamaica as her home decades ago, establishing her public relations company and brand, Marcia Erskine & Associates.

“The public relations conglomerate she build brick by brick never accepted any client purely because of monetary compensation. It had to be established that the client operated for a worthy cause. It had to be something in which she genuinely believed [in], issues such as promoting our Caribbean space, the human resource development of our people and corporate enterprises devoted to ethical business practices and notable charitable endeavours [such as the Children of Jamaica Outreach (COJO)],” he said.

Patterson recalled Erskine tackling any obstacle for every enterprising venture with consummate professional skills.

“As a client, she made you believe you were the one and only customer. The formidable the challenge, the resounding advice [from her], but when she signs off with her delightful tilt of the Trini accent, ‘Everything is alright’. You can really relax,” Patterson said.

“Her deep love of the [public relations] craft and her innate mastery of the requisite skills helped the firm to promote and elevate brand Jamaica on the global hospitality stage. She was a visionary whose comprehension of the nuances of public relations helped to establish unique and distinctive brands. As we came to know, despite her amicable and calm demeanour, Marcia was no push-over. She was prepared to be a self facing and supportive member of the group, but, yet, she was always willing and equipped to assume the mantle of leadership when the occasion deemed it necessary,” he said.

Patterson said that, to be head of the Public Relations Association of Jamaica or the Women’s Leadership Initiative, of which Marcia previously served as head in Jamaica, “required nerves of steel, as well as that special blend of knowledge and experience”, which she admirably chaired.

Frontal and precise

Sir Hilary Beckles, vice chancellor of The UWI Mona campus, who inherited the services of Erskine from his predecessor, attested to Patterson’s reflection of her not being a push-over from the very first day they met in his office.

“I had learnt of her reputation, but I knew little of her personality... She was frontal, as she was precise. She said, ‘Vice Chancellor, the decision of the heads of government to ask you to lead the Regional Reparations Commission, will complicate your role as vice chancellor’, and I asked, ‘Why is that?’ ‘Because’, she said, ‘the powers-to-be in this region are not reparations ready’. That statement dropped like a bomb. I was on the back foot,” he said.

He said that, given that he was on “the back foot”, his instinct in the moment was “to return to first base”, and with his base being history, he responded.

“I said, ‘Well, Marcia, The UWI started in 1948 as a medical school dedicated to repairing the health of West Indian people, because the health of West Indian people was considered the worst in the British Empire. Therefore, Marcia, we are in the repair business, and whether we like it or not, this is our business. We are here not only to repair, but to repurpose our people’s network and intellect . We are also in the business of not only of repairing and repositioning, but creating the context for our dignified future’,” Sir Hillary told the mourners.

“And, of course, I started to preach, and she stopped and she said, ‘Vice Chancellor, you are preaching to the Pope’,” he said, to which the mourners laughed before he continued, “I am a UWI graduate to the bone.”

He recalled her last WhatsApp message to him the day before she suddenly passed with the latest achievement of her daughter, Roshal Marshall, in the United States.

“She wrote, ‘Vice Chancellor, see attached. My daughter is making big waves in the USA’. My response, ‘I am reliably informed that the sweetest fruit never falls but under the tree, and always stays there’. Her response: ‘Vice Chancellor, thank you for you perpetual kindness. I will always appreciate it. Bye, bye, for now’,” he said.

Her daughter, in her tribute, recalled her mother for always using “the royal we” during life conversations that bore a connection between them both.

“Are we done having kids? When are we going back to work? Are we taking our vitamins? But, in truth, she always made me feel like a we, that we were in this thing called life together,” Marshall said.

Teary-eyed and overcome with emotions, she continued to highlight how her mother, throughout her life, showered her with boundless love, unwavering support, and profound guidance, leading her to now be unable to think of a thing from the past that she could have done differently.

“She equipped me with not just the essentials, but with the tools to navigate life’s challenges with grace and resilience,” she said.

Heartbreaking tribute

Of all the tributes delivered, the most touching, heartbreaking and tear-jerking among the mourners was the final one written by her eight-year-old grandson, Sule Marshall, who affectionately called her ‘Amma’, along with his sister.

He got cold feet and was emotional when he heard around 300 mourners would be gathered in the chapel to celebrate his grandmother’s life. However, as fate would have it, his reflection was spoken through the words of Marcia’s widower, attorney-at-law Michael Erskine.

“’My Amma was the best ever. She always made me feel’,” Michael read for his grandson before briefly pausing and continuing, “’like I was the most special person in the world. Every time she visited me and my sister, it was like stepping into a magical world where anything was possible’.”

The family visited Disney World last year and Michael, reading Sule’s words, said, “’We had the best time ever with her’.

“’Amma’s smile could brighten up my sad days’,” Michael read before again pausing and continuing, “’and her hugs made everything okay, even when mommy and daddy are mad at me ... Amma is amazing’.”

Erskine embodied one great attribute of God spoken in 1 John 4. That is love which radiated to others through her smile and always kind words, which Sule and all mourners alike who gathered, do miss.

Michael asked for prayers for Marcia’s secretary of more than 25 years, Tracia Miller, who after her death, became ill, was hospitalised and was only released last Wednesday, but made the sacrifice and the effort to be at the service to show her last respects.

Immediately after officiating pastor, Reverend Astor Carlyle began his sermon, he thought of another word that described the loss of Erskine, which is found in St Matthew 8:23-26, and asked the mourners if they could think of it too.

“’Suddenly!’ The text says that Jesus and his disciples were making their way cross the Sea of Galilee when suddenly, without warning, a furious storm came upon the lake. I do not like that word ‘suddenly’. I don’t like the word ‘suddenly’ because I’m a planner ... Marcia died suddenly,” Carlyle said.

He then asked the mourners how they deal with the ‘suddenlys’ of life and reminded them that, from the scripture, not only did the disciples go to Jesus and wake him, who is the Saviour, but they depended on “community”.

“The truth of life is this. You’re either entering a storm, in a storm or coming out of a storm, and, you know what I have come to accept? Suddenly is a reality of life ... The question is, ‘How do you and I deal with the interrupting and imposing nature of suddenly? We need a supportive network. Community is at its best when you and I are at our worst. There is a point that you and I should not miss, and it is this, no one should seek to handle the interruptive force of suddenly alone. We were created for community and Marcia was a community woman, and she would let you and me understand that no one is an island, no one stands alone,” he said.

Support for charity

Marcia also had an unwavering support for charity, which led to her becoming a director of COJO.

Up until the day, evening and mere hours before her passing on March 6, Marcia was responsible for and catered to the public relations and media coverage of one of her clients, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), who hosted a Digital Attacker Client Event.

So dedicated was Marcia to her work, that she scheduled an email along with an advisory to the media for March 18 for The UWI & PJ Patterson Institute for Africa-Caribbean Public Advocacy Symposium, which was delivered after her passing.

Erskine was a trained journalist with a degree in mass communication from the Caribbean’s premier media institute, the Caribbean School of Media and Communication at The UWI, Mona, after which she began her career as a reporter with the Trinidad Guardian and then Trinidad Express in the 1970s, before returning to Jamaica and joining The Gleaner Company in 1981.

ainsworth.morris@gleanerjm.com