taking with her the essence of a bona fide sisterhood now splintered, and a family circle that aches, pooling every morsel of strength to navigate their daily lives without her.

In what bore semblances to a Shakespearean tragedy, the mother of three perished alongside her lover in 2022, when a boat they were in was compromised by a hole in the bottom that in no time rapidly took in water.  She was only three years removed from 30, and her partner, Richard John, 29. News of the calamity ripped the hearts of many in the community of Angoy’s Avenue that themed her entire childhood, while John’s family buckled in grief. They were fortunate to have his remains to huddle around one last time before committing him to the ground, but for the family of Shellon, what compounds their anguish tenfold is that there was no chance of affording her a formal send off. The ill-fated boat was docked, and John was recovered days after, but Shellon was never seen again.

Iyana Williamson, her younger sibling, had accepted without denial that her sister is no more, but would have preferred a physical tomb in which to lay her, than the fathoms of water that more than likely have devised for her a watery grave. With not an inch of closure, her sister with whom she had the strongest ties went under, but the blunt pain of losing her in that manner stays afloat in her heart as each day turns.

Shellon grew up in Angoy’s Avenue in New Amsterdam, Berbice, bundled among siblings, a set up dominated by females. Owing to a few missteps, her mother arranged for her to relocate to Linden, where she stayed for an extended period with an older sibling. Not only did she leave behind her other siblings and her mother, but John, who was her high school boyfriend. Shellon reviewed the contents of her new chapter and determined that no one would author her story. At least not all of it. She absorbed her new environment and set about life in the mining town. (Kaieteur News)