Pearlina "Lola" Lewis

Obituary For Pearlina "Lola" Lewis

Pearlina Lewis, or as she was so affectionately called “Lola & Sister Lewis”, was born in Manchester Jamaica, on 21st September 1940, to parents Maud Green and Alty Lawrence. Our beloved Pearlina lived her life by always doing for others. She received her formal education at Old England All Age School. Sis Lewis knew early on how to be savvy but kind, to be purposeful yet understanding, to be decisive yet caring, to be productive yet easygoing. When it came to finance, she knew how to make a “dollar out of 15 cents” and keep it. As a child she was mysterious, as an adult she had a vision. She was going to make it and that is what she did.

Lola migrated to Canada in 1978 and traveled back and forth to Jamaica for many years making her living as a Sales Vendor. Along the way, she met and developed lifelong friends, some who are either here today or listening online and sharing in the pain of her passing and the celebration of her life.

Pearlina migrated to the New York in 1983, to join her husband, the late Percival Lewis, where she began working at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital alongside him. She was baptized and became a faithful member of the New Life Seventh Day Adventist Church in Brooklyn. Pearlina quickly realized that she had another true calling. She wanted to care for those who were developmentally disabled. She took on that challenge with grace, grit, and wit. Diane, Musa, and Craig called her mom. She showed them love, took them on vacation, cruises, and was a constant in their lives.

After some time, sister Lewis and her husband relocated to Port Saint Lucie Florida in 2004, where they both became members of the Macedonia church family. When she relocated to Florida, she was so connected to Craig, that his father was happy to sign his papers giving her charge of him, and begged her, “Please take him with you.” She did, and the rest, as they say, is history. Pearlina knew the Lord. She kept Sabbath and continued winning souls for Christ.

Aside from her children, there are family members and friends in the United States and Canada who are benefactors of her generosity. She found a way to help them migrate. Many would love to be here but are unable to travel. Her measure of success is due to God’s blessing, but also because of her loving and helping hands. We wish that we had more time, but even though she is gone, she has left the legacy of her love and perseverance. The ways she touched our lives will remain. So we go on, but we keep those memories alive by sharing them with each other.

Through it all, her love and her family remained her focus, and she was able to show that love to everyone she met. Pearlina’s perseverance through adversity is a powerful lesson for us, and Lola lived it. What a wonderful lesson she gave us. Keep your priorities straight. Keep that which is most important in focus. Love and care for your family, friends, and everyone you meet. Lift others up! Let them know in all the ways you can that you love them.

We have gathered here today, in memory of Lola. We are here so that together we may acknowledge and share both our joy in the gift that her life was to us, and the pain that her passing brings. We do this with the hope that we may lessen the pain and remember more clearly the joy. It is hard to say goodbye, especially to someone with such a contagious spirit, laughter, love, and grace.

The family wishes to express an incredibly special thank you and gratitude to sister Gloria and Daughter-in Law Cossil for their tireless dedication in becoming her caregivers through the years and months of her illness. A special thank you is extended to her beloved doctor, Dr. Dawkins, and all of her Macedonia church family. "We will never have to say goodbye to mom's soul because of the love and memories we will cherish, but today we all need to say goodbye to her body."

The family also recognize that many people in Canada, England, Jamaica, and the United States would love to be but are unable. We share in your grief.

Left to cherish her memory are her children: Anthony, Peter, and Lorna; Daughters-in Law (current and former): Cossil, Gina, and Fay; Son- in- Law: Owen; Sisters: Gloria and Blossom; Brothers: John, Roy, Sessel, Keith, and Althius; 12 Grandchildren; Great Grandchildren; Nieces and nephews; numerous cousins, other relatives, close friends, and her church family. This family and God are where she drew her strength and left her legacy.

Public visitation for Pearlina "Lola" Lewis will take place on Saturday, September 25, 2021 from 4:00pm-7:00pm at Stone Brothers Funeral Home in Fort Pierce, FL. Funeral services will convene on Sunday, September 26, 2021 at Macedonia Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Fort Pierce, FL beginning at 11:00am. Burial will follow in Riverview Memorial Park.

Although many venues have opened and the restrictions of COVID-19 have been relaxed, we at Stone Brothers Funeral Homes are still enforcing the guidelines set forth by the CDC and FDOH to protect our families and our staff. We ask that you respect this, as it could very well save your life. We also ask that you acknowledge and execute the 6 feet social distancing guidelines as well.

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