Viola Graham

Mrs. Graham, or Sister Vie as she was affectionately known, was born in Grantham, Clarendon, Jamaica, to George and Virginia Briam (nee James). Before her first birthday, she was adopted by her mother’s sister and husband, Delissa and Adonijah Samuels, who raised her as their only child in Bellfield, St. Catherine.

From an early age Viola developed a love for reading and was a good student who passed all three levels of the Jamaica Local Examination. Sis. Vie accepted the Lord in 1947 at the Bellfield Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP), where her father served as pastor. She taught Sunday School and the church choir. As a student nurse in Kingston, she attended the Old Hope Road COGOP, serving as the Women’s Ministries leader (WMB) and church treasurer.

After training as a nurse at the University College Hospital in Kingston, Viola went to England in 1956, where she completed her training in midwifery at Barnet General Hospital, Middlesex. During her nursing career in the UK, she worked at various hospitals in Birmingham and London as a staff nurse, ward sister and night superintendent.

On January 13, 1962, Viola married Lesmon Graham and they had two children, Garry Kirkpatrick and Karen L’Rhena. Viola and Lesmon were actively engaged in ministry together and she staunchly supported her husband in his roles as a pastor and senior Bishop in the COGOP. While in England, Viola Graham became a licensed minister in the mid-1960s and continued to serve her local church in various ministries and as National Sunday School Secretary during the early 1970s.

They returned to Jamaica in 1976 when Bishop Graham was appointed to the Maxfield Avenue church and subsequently served as National Overseer of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. She achieved a Certificate in Counseling from the University of the West Indies while working at the Denham Town Secondary School as school counselor in 1977. In 1992, they returned to the United Kingdom when her husband was appointed to serve as Overseer for England, Belgium and France. They remained there for eight years and during that time Viola gained a Diploma in Pastoral Counseling from the University of Birmingham.

Viola is survived by her loving husband of 62 years, Lesmon; children, Garry (Dannett), Karen (Richard) and Roxanne; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; extended family members, Olive Wright-Clarke and Yvonne McFarlane.