Ermancile Rose Gachette

Ermancile Rose Gachette, who so many loved to call “Mom,” passed away peacefully in the apartment she called home for 48 years in Monsey, New York, and left for her eternal “home” on August 6, 2021.

Mom was born on November 8, 1937 in St-Jean-du-Sud, Haiti, near the port city of Les Cayes [also known as Aux Cayes in Haitian Creole]. She was the daughter of Genius Gachette, a farmer, and Hermancia Tevenus, an enterprising homemaker. Her formative years were primarily spent assisting her family and neighbors with daily farm life and commerce. With the world around her as her classroom, she developed an old world wisdom that many would be blessed by in her later years.

As a young adult, she left her rural community with Verret, her beloved older brother who had established himself in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Here, she worked as a live-in caretaker for different families throughout her twenties and learned her brilliant cooking talents that she was famous for!

In 1968, she accepted another caretaking position, this time, miles away from Haiti in the state of Florida in the USA. Mom’s cherished older brother Velon arrived in 1970 and together they moved to New York in 1971. While in NY, Mom became a United States citizen in 1978, and the siblings were among the first major wave of French-Spanish Caribbean immigrants to integrate Rockland County, New York. They were part of a group that made their mark in various state institutions and manufacturing plants. Thus, alongside Haitian co-workers who became her lifelong friends, Mom worked nearly 40 years in the Housekeeping Department at the Dr. Robert L. Yeager Health Complex (formerly Summit Park Hospital) in Pomona, New York, until her retirement in 2006.

Many were inspired by her strong work ethic and generosity as she cooked meals to share with her co-workers daily at the hospital. This was her way of never forgetting her native country and cultivating a sense of belonging through food and fellowship. Her kitchen in the small Monsey apartment was an unofficial community hub for many visitors who sought a delicious meal, comforting words, and refuge from the harsh realities of life as an immigrant far from home.

Mom also shared her deep love for a good cup of coffee, perfumes, and dancing.

She was most proud of her cooking and catering for weddings and parties, for leaving tender voice-mail messages for her kids, and for facilitating the arrival and support of countless Haitians who now call the United States their home too. Mom’s charm and goodwill was a comfort to so many neighbors and friends of different cultures and walks of life.

She is survived by her brother, Dorcena Gachette, in Haiti; her daughters, Michelle Gachette, Madrina Gachette, and Kettelie N. Dubuisson; grandsons, Dedrin Omari Gachette-Lewis and Okoi Nicholas Odum II, and granddaughter, Aada Erman Gachette-Lewis.

In addition to the children and grandchildren that she doted on, Ermancile is also survived by her Godchildren, Rhodes Gachette and Marie Guerda Renelus Emilcar, dear friends, and a very large extended family of nieces, nephews, and cousins, in the US, Haiti, Cuba, and beyond.

Mom, ou lakay ou nan kè nou! Mèsi anpil pou lanmou ou!