Barbados Today

Let the killing of 23-year-old Lamar Carter serve as a wake up call that something must be done to repair a “disintegrating” society.

That was the advice of Reverend Dr Michael Clarke as he delivered a sermon to a packed St Thomas Parish Church, at the funeral service of the Spring Farm, St Thomas resident whose body was found in the back of a car on February 10.

“We are here today because our community continues to fall apart,” he said.

The church leader urged the gathering, as they reflected on the life of the young man who was snatched from the world at a young age under horrific circumstances, to look at the larger picture.He also accused some parents of failing society by not raising their children correctly and declining to introduce them to God and the principles of religion.

“Don’t just let us talk about how wonderful Lamar is or was. Let us remember that Lamar is a part of Barbados, Lamar is a part of a community that is disintegrating,” he said.

“Lamar’s death would be a waste if we don’t stop for a few moments and reflect as a community and to ask God for forgiveness for the ways in which we have not suffered the little children to come to him, the ways in which he have denied them the presence of God.”

Before Reverend Clarke’s sermon, cousin of the deceased Patricia Edwards delivered the eulogy in which she described the former Sharon Primary and Parkinson Memorial School student as a man of very few words.

She said his grandfather who took care of him when he was younger, while his parents were at work, remembered him as a good boy. Edwards said his grandmother Sybil would miss seeing him on Saturdays.

Other family shared fond memories of the young man who earned a living as a mechanic. One sister Tiffany said he tried to dance but really couldn’t; while another sister, Ruth, recalled that her brother never liked to eat as a child and she had to feed him from a saucer.

“To his mother Victorene he was ‘Lah muh sweet boy’. Everything was Lah for her. It was Lah who would take her to work, pick her back up. Lah was there for her no matter what she asked, never complaining, always respectful, not only to her she would say, but to his dad and to his grandparents and all the neighbours . . . ,” Edwards said.

His father Andy, who nicknamed him Flash because of his ability to work quickly in the workshop, remembered that Carter was very dependable and reliable in transporting his mother to work and grandmother to and from town where she went to sell on Saturdays.

Edwards told the congregation: “Andy remembers up to Monday, the last day Lamar worked in the workshop, he was given three jobs to do and his dad left him with the work and went out looking for parts. To his amazement, when he reached back Lamar had everything done in a flash, true to his nickname.”

“The work was supposed to continue on Tuesday to work on some other vehicles, but on that fateful Tuesday morning on February 10, [came] the news that shattered the hearts of a family, community and by extension a nation,” added a sad Edwards.

Carter’s body was laid to rest in the churchyard where loved ones struggled to hold back tears, particularly when the casket was lowered into the grave.