Remembering Rev Bernella McKenzie

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Reverend Bernella McKenzie died on December 7, 2024. She worked at the Jamaica Library Service for over 25 years before she retired as a senior administrator, and, during all of that, was a faithful missionary all over the Caribbean and the US. Rev McKenzie became the pastor of Royal Flat National Church of God after her husband died in 2011. Rev McKenzie, my mother, was a kind-hearted and transcending humanitarian whose devotion to God helped to infect that spirit of benevolence, godliness and childlikeness.

She is survived by all her siblings, all her children, and lots of children and grandchildren, plus the church she pioneered and the groups she formed and left behind, including the Hellshire Senior Citizens Association.

Rev McKenzie was also president of the Bridgeport High School PTA while I was head boy at the school. She touched so many lives and gave of herself amid some difficult challenges at times. She helped to developed and grow the Sunday School ministry, the women’s ministry, and mission over the years while Jamaica Evangelistic Association Portmore, and supported the works at Mandeville Evangelistic Center, Morant Bay Evangelistic Center, and even churches in the US. Rev McKenzie was skilled in making drapes, dressmaking and tailoring, making all our clothes as children growing up. She would make clothes and curtains and give to the less fortunate.

She trained senior librarians when she was an administrator there and was profoundly indelible to the seamless operations of the library in St Catherine.

Mommy also spent some time visiting the Hellshire United Church, which was the last church service she attended with me and my brother Ricardo, before she passed away. Rest in peace, Rev Bernella McKenzie.

REV RENALDO MCKENZIE

renaldocmckenzie@gmail.

com