Vida Claire Edwards Cunningham

Vida Claire Edwards-Cunningham

During the early morning of Thursday, March 25th 2010, God in His infinite wisdom took our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend Vida into his loving arms. Her passing was a mirror image of the grace and dignity with which Vida lived her life; the moment was peaceful and serene as she accepted and embraced her final homecoming.

Born Vida Clair Elmore Edwards on May 8th, 1945 to the late Chrisnella and Ruben Edwards, in St. Andrew, Jamaica she was blessed with twelve siblings; Ruddy, Mathan, Bernice, Pearl (deceased), Stanley, Dudley, Millicent (deceased), Maisie, Winnie (deceased), Muriel, Sybil and Frederick. Vida had a penchant for life and at age 16 she left Dallas to live with her Uncle Fred and family in Kingston where she went on to pursue a career in the catering industry mostly at the prestigious firm, Grace Kennedy and Company. It was during this venture that she met Russell (Derrick) who would later become her husband and father of her four children. After a three year courtship they married on June 29th 1968 at Christ Church in Jones Town and went on to build a strong and loving family of three boys and one girl; Collie(deceased), Russell Jr. (Ricky), Novelette and Wayne.

For a period of time, Vida courageously ventured out to travel between the United States and Jamaica intent on forging a better future for her family. As a result, by 1979 it became possible for the entire family to reunite permanently in the Bronx, N.Y. There Vida worked tirelessly alongside her husband and soon purchased a huge home in the Bronx which became affectionately known as “220” where Vida constantly laid out the welcome mat, a testament to her generous spirit, warmth and kindness to the many family members who, over time, followed her example to come to the US in search of opportunities for something better.

In addition to embracing all her family members; by virtue of her “culinary skills” the friends of her own kids soon came to know Vida as their “Mom” as well. Her unconditional love was clearly evident to those who had the distinct pleasure of knowing her and her gift of “hospitality” was shared almost daily. “Moms” greatest joy was opening the backyard to a myriad of celebrations and festive cookouts at a moments notice; birthday parties, baby showers, holidays, you name it! She always provided a welcoming and safe environment and was not only a good listener, but would dispense stern but friendly advice as needed.

Vida spent the remainder of her time dedicated to something else that she was very passionate about, caring for others. This encompassed over fifteen years at Harlem Nursing Home in the Bronx and beginning in 1995 when she later migrated to Florida, at Cleveland Clinic Hospital and Florida Medical Hospital.

Though still working the night shift after she moved to Florida, Vida’s days were now filled with the joy of watching her two grandchildren, Sade and Maya, which meant discovering something new almost daily. There were numerous fun trips to the park and she was always there to cheer them on for school events and other extracurricular activities such as ballet and gymnastics.

She especially enjoyed the major events in the lives of her children, i.e. graduation ceremonies, weddings and mostly, the birth of each of her eleven grandchildren. Her oldest son Collie gave her the first granddaughter, Chanel. The others followed his lead, mostly Ricky, with Racquan, Racqual, Isaiah, Hannah, Holloway and Silas; Novelette’s girls Sade and Maya and Wayne’s children Jair (deceased) and Madison. As a result of moving to Florida she was also blessed with having more family time and events with her brothers Ruddy and Mathan and her sister in law Lola as well as her sisters Bernice and Sybil.

With its close proximity to Jamaica, there was also another major benefit of living in Florida as Mom was a yardie and loved to go “home”. Rooted in her Jamaican heritage fun time was going on vacations to Dallas, especially during mango season. Those frequent trips allowed her to spend time with her husband, her brother Dudley, her nephew Robert and his family as well as her many friends.

Most importantly, Vida was a God fearing woman. She joined Coral Baptist (now Church by the Glades) very soon after coming to Florida. As one of the early members of what was then a small church, she has seen it grow to where it now reaches thousands for the Lord. She herself accepted the Lord at an early age and service in the name of the King filled Vida’s life with countless hours of thankful joy and praise. In the last couple months she spent most of her day listening to her favorite praise and worship songs and reading her Bible which she enthusiastically shared with family and friends who surrounded her.

“Mom”, “Vida”, “Tola”, “Grandma” ”Aunty V” “Sister V”; whichever name you choose, will be greatly missed by her large and loving family as well as her extended “family” and the many friends with whom she so effortlessly shared of herself. We are extremely proud to remember that she leaves us all a legacy of the importance of hard work, kindness, unconditional love, commitment to family and contentment under any circumstances and her love for the Lord.

If you could see Vida she’s not just walking streets of gold, in recent months she often demonstrated that she would be “dancing streets of gold”!

If you could see her now, she’s standing tall and whole

If you could see her now, you’d know she’s seen His face

If you could see her now, you’d know her pain’s erased

You wouldn’t want her to ever leave His place, if only you could see her now!