Eulogy for the late Victor Matadeen 22 March 1942 to 28 June 2015 by Adrian Matadeen Greetings: Rev. , Mr & Mrs, family and friends of the decease, good afternoon , my name is __________ I am the son of the decease , Victor Matadeen , born March 22, 1942 during the heydays of WWII and died peacefully at his home here at Charles street, on 27 June 2015. Permit me to begin by saying how difficult it is to construct such a speech, I first had to figure out what is a eulogy, and one definition defines it as a 15th century construct that was a speech that highly praised a deceased person, so prior to this time one honored the dead by monuments, feasting festivals and games as the Greeks and Romans, but no eulogy. Perhaps one of the more famous eulogies that purports not to be a eulogy is from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar character Mark Anthony ’s “Friends Romans, countrymen , lend me your ears , I have come to bury Caesar not to praise him” I now like to take a moment and share with you, the theme of this eulogy , as said by Osho: “Death is already happening , death is an absolute necessary process for life to be , it is not the enemy but , it is the friend.” Victor Matadeen had many monikers, the first being firstborn son to Slyvie & Ramon Matadeen , of Paseas Tunapuna . Ramon, his father passed away at the age of 57 years, his mother my grandmother is alive at the age of 93 years old here with us today and I pray for many more days to come. Then his next title would be brother to Randolph, whom nearly everyday for the last 4 years when Dads health took a serious turn to starting with his hernia and prostate complicated by heart disease, they acted as each other physician. Later on Victor would also have a three sisters , Joyce, Ann and Merle and two more brothers Fred and Peter. His baby sister Merle was especially close and the recipient for many years every Sunday morning call at 7 AM, his Siparia ma, as he fondly called her and teased her. Victor loved and cared for this family in Pasea it was really his only Mecca and place of respite. All of his brothers and sisters are here , elderly with their Mother can testify the love they had for their brother and he had for them as a big brother , he never abandon them and remained continuously and consistently involved in each one lives. His next moniker would be student and Dad attended primary school in Tunapuna and got accepted at the prestigious Hillview College, his alma mater. At college things got strained at his home life in Pasea and Dad lived with the Canadian missionary family Reverend Kittney with his wife and four younger kids at the manns at Curepe Presbyterian Church on Lyndon Street. In fact Dad planted most of the trees that are there. From the home of Rev.Kitten Dad learned the responsibilities of being a descent Christian person. After writing O’levels , Dad had to work to support himself and his Pasea family , his mother Sylvie was a part time maid at the home of Rev. Kittney 3 days a week . Again Dad was a big brother to the Kittney’s siblings and a role model. Dad admired and respected Rev.Kittney and his wife for taken him into their home and loving him as one of their own. Dad wrote the civil servants exam at the age of 17 years and worked as an insurance sales man with the Guyana Mutual but did not like sales and work inside as a back office person, which is what his only daughter Jinelle is now doing but GL as a side note. Dad had to travel from Pasea to Port of Spain and took the train to work which he got at Curepe. His father Ramon worked at that time also in Port of Spain with the warehouse for Kirplani and was able to get Dad a job with TT Post as a letter carrier in the Curepe area hence saving him travel passage. Dad loved being a postman , he was finally happy. Here he was an employee. Dad travelled to Venezuela to visit his cousins and Uncle and Aunty on his father Ramon side as well as to Suriname and Canada. He loved Tobago and took the family on the Bird of Paradise across in his late twenties . In his late 30’s family excursions were a must and he rented a taxi to take his family of six to the beach. Dad continued with the post office until he retired 36 years later with full pension , working up the ladder to Inspector and acting Supervisor , at Post offices in Port of Spain , Gasparillo and San Fernando . He was well liked in his job and had a talent for getting along with his contemporaries, and he loved afterwork limes with his peers. Regrettable Dad smoked from his Hillview College days and this contributed to breathing and circulatory problems which plagued him for the last 15 years of his life . Dad quit smoking and consuming alcohol when his grandson Zackary was born , 6 years ago , cold turkey, so he could be around his grandson with sobriety and a role model. My father and mother marriage was arranged and it all due to a fridge, a marriage for half a century . Here is the story : Recollect , Ramon Matadeen , Dad’s father worked with Kirplani warehouse ( courts of yesteryear), well Samuel Roopchand my maternal grandfather through his brother in law purchased a fridge in Port of Spain from Kirplani, and Ramon delivered it to Charles Street Gasparillo, and saw a picture of Bernice Roopchand on the wall and by casual talk with Bernice’s Uncle found out she was single . Well the introduction was made to Nellie Roopchand , Bernice’s mother to Ramon Matadeen , father of Victor Matadeen. The rest is history and that was 50 years ago. They got engaged and married, and moved to Curepe Lyndon Street , where Dad worked as a Postman and Mom a housewife. They tried to have a child but after two years , a premature baby boy severally ill with pneumonia was born 11 pm on the 11th day of the 11 month in 1967 at San Fernando Gen Hospital ,to them , named Adrian Kern Delon . On the 30th of January 1969, Barry Ian Darell also , came into this world and Dad now had a family of four in Curepe to live on his wages as a postal carrier. The family relocated to Charles Street and here on May 20 , 1975 , Sherwin Ingel bert Humperdick and on April 14 1978 , his daughter Jinelle Alison Nicole was born . September 2000 , Barry joined a daughter –in law Brenda to him and I ask now for your prayers for Brenda who is not well at this time. Then in 2008, April , Zackary Adams came into the world , and a new life began for Victor as a grandfather. After Dad retired he began a paper delivery route , which he did for a few years, and then assisted Mom in running the shop, which he did full time up until his passing away. Every Sunday dad cooked the family meals and this was started eons ago , he would in his younger days , as mom went to church and we to Sunday school , head off to Marabella market and come back with two baskets of market and cook the Sunday meal , fried rice , chow mein , stew chicken , calaloo and tomato and cucumber salad with boil plantain in the early years he was to make souse with the pigs trotters and feet. Dad was a voracious reader , he read daily the newspaper and books on life in other planets , he was well informed and loved games shows and pick a pan in mastana bahra, he was also a great fan of cricket, and loved watching the game on television. Dad loved CSI and Texas Rangers Walker on cable, he was not athletic, enjoyed fishing and kite flying. He made his own fishing rods and kites. My dad was very proud of his penmanship, he was a natural born Calligrapher, his signature is a classic of the old school style. He was a morally upright man , who never envied anyone or anything , he was content with what he had and never craved for more , material things meant little to him. Dad was carefully that the Matadeen name never got sullied with criminality or evil , he wanted this name to stand for honest living and his entire life exemplified this fact. I end here with two quotes one from the KJ bible Verily , verily I say to you , except a seed of corn of wheat fall into the ground and die , it abideth alone , but if it die it bringeth much fruit. One from the Quran From God we come from , to God we return (ENGLISH) Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (ARABIC) Victor Matadeen: son, brother , husband , employee, cousin , uncle, grandpa, friend and for me Dad , may God Almighty consecrate and approve your Soul to abideth with Him, Abba father. We loved and will love you as you were , enough to yourself , a person who left this good for the great. This song be with you for eternity : Pappa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GonTN9gRinY

My dad dying

It is with great sadness I write the passing away of my dad by natural causes last night at his home at 2100hr 27/06/2015 , Mr.Victor Matadeen spouse for 56 years to Mrs.Bernice Matadeen nee Roopchand. May his soul RIP . He leaves behind four children, a grandchild and his 97 year old Mother Mrs.Sylvie Matadeen of Pasea Tunapuna, two brothers and three sisters and numerous nephews and nieces. Dad is being missed greatly, but we are strengthened by our Christian faith and belief. But by the Grace of Almighty God there go we.