Thank you for coming to my birthday party. Ironically, my classmate, Margaret Cason, my daughter, Kidada and I had been planning my birthday celebration since May 2, 2025. I said to my daughter, “I want a pink and red birthday party, with an Overtown theme!” Her response was, “Mommy, how do you get pink and red out of Overtown?” Well, you see, Overtown was where Charles Edgecombe and Helen Rodriguez (Mama Sue) raised me, and where Pauline Knight, Charles Edgecombe, Jr., Sylvester Edgecombe, Gail Knight, Willie Gallon, Gracie Mae Jones, and Freddie, Frank, Henry, Leroy and Sam Footman, bred me. Overtown was also where Booker T. Washington Senior High School prepared me for this journey called life.

Life for me was a very simple one. I loved to dance, feed people, visit my oh-so-large family in The Bahamas, eat conch and go to church-nothing more, nothing less! I loved and enjoyed the company of my sons Willie Hepburn and Chacovey Jefferson, and adored my godchildren, Latonya Payne, Candace Williams, Zorana Jackson and Deon Lambert. Additionally, I immensely loved, and will forever be endeared to my cousins; The Strachan and Rodriguez families of Georgetown Exuma, The Bahamas; The Davis, Clarke and Smith families of Nassau, The Bahamas; The Edgecombe, Footman and Ferguson families of Miami, Florida and The Jefferson, Smith and Knight Families of Tallahassee, Florida.

My life’s reflections were as short and sweet as my physical stature and personality, but mighty and stern as my trust in God. I can boldly say that I’ve arrived and conquered, I’ve existed and achieved, I’ve lived and learned, I’ve loved .... and then I’ve left. Thank you all for loving me back and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!