International football star and assistant senior national team coach Dwight Yorke broke down in tears, describing his late mother Grace Yorke as “truly great”, during her funeral service at the Bon Accord Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church on Tuesday.
He did so at the close of the service as he offered an expression of thanks on behalf of the Yorke family to all those who had assisted in whatever way, behind the scenes or outwardly, in the preparations towards the funeral of his mother.
“There are so many people to thank, to give thanks to on behalf of our family... this is really the hardest thing I would have ever done”, he told the packed congregation.
Struggling to contain the pain and grief which was obviously too much for him to bear, he asserted that the outpouring of support to the family in its time of grief was overwhelming.
“The support from everyone, from the rich to the poor, it showed me a great deal... a gift I must cherish; I never knew mom had known all these people,” he noted, his voice breaking as the tears flowed.
“Excuse me for my voice not being so loud. I am surprised I even have a voice. I want to thank everybody really for making us feel comforted as a household. I did not realise how special my mother was.
“She was great, she was truly great! I just want to thank you all very much, I just want to thank you for the other members of my family, thank you for everything, thank you...” he whispered, as he broke down and had to be comforted by a relative.
He would let it all hang out immediately afterwards in privacy at the back of the church after he left the altar. Earlier in his sermon, Pastor Earl Edwards asserted while it was pointless to ask the bereaved family not to mourn, he was urging them to “cry as those with hope.”
He emphasised that death does not have the last say but was the way of all flesh. Quoting from the book of Hebrews Chapter 27 Vs 9 in the Bible, he stressed, “Death does not have the last word... death is not the end for the believer, for after death comes the judgement”.
Pastor Edwards made it clear that “death is a mystery for those who do not believe”. He added he was not preaching to Sister Yorke, for the dead cannot see, hear or feel, as he urged members of the grieving family to live for Jesus and obey His commandments.
In that way, he affirmed, all would be guaranteed of the resurrection and a life in God’s Kingdom. The deceased, who died at the age of 70 after ailing for some time, was finally laid to rest at the Buccoo Public Cemetery.