Yolande Marie Fabien

Yolande Marie Fabien was born Yolande Maurice in Port-de-Paix (Pòdepè), Haiti on October 17, 1942 from father Rodrigue Maurice and mother Anne Rose Jérome. As was custom in her family, Maître Roro (her father) brought her to his mother, Mme Lafontant Maurice, at about 5 years old to be familiarized to and educated according to the traditions of the family. She attended secondary school at Lycée Tertulien Guilbaud in Port-de-Paix. Some years later after rearing with Mme Maurice, she was sent to Port-au-Prince to live with her mother, Anne Rose Jérome and her brothers and sisters in the Dorleans household. In 1963 she went to nursing school in Cap-Haïtien (Kap Ayisyen, referred to Le Cap or Au Cap) at Ecole des Infimieres Notre Dame des la Sagesse where she met future life-long best friend Claudette Eyma and her future husband, Christian Fabien, the son of Celestin Fabien and Lelia Jean-Baptiste Fabien of Quartier-Morin (Katye Moren), at Hôpital Justien in the Fall of 1964, while a student and he a patient.

Graduating from nursing school as a registered nurse in the fall of 1966, she started her first job at Hôpital Immaculée Conception in Port-de-Paix, were her father was the administrator, and years prior to her birth had met her mother, Anne Rose, who was a worker at the hospital. Yolande married Christian Fabien in May 1967 at the age of 23 and moved to Quartier-Morin before moving from the city of Cap-Haïtien to the country's capital, Port-au-Prince (Pòtoprens). In her early nursing career, Yolande Fabien worked at Hôpital Justien, Hôpital Grande Rivière du Nord (Cap-Haïtien), and Hôpital Albert Schweitzer, near Saint-Marc (Sen Mak) meeting long-time endearing friends and nurses along the way like Mita Othoniel (Estimable) who would be key supporters of her future family life. She and husband Christian moved to the United States in February 1971 leaving behind three sons; Fredenell (born February 13, 1968), Freypell (born December 29, 1968) and Frantz (born March 13, 1970), all in the care of her sister, Rose Marie “Guerda” Dorleans and her mother Anne Rose in the family home in Port-au-Prince.

Arriving in New York, she and Christian stayed with Daniele, Freypell’s godfather, who had helped planned their migration. Yolande worked as many shifts and in as many hospitals that she could to support her family. She returned to Haiti in July of 1972 to visit her kids and family while pregnant. While in Haiti, she gave birth to her fourth son, Christian Jr., (born August 13, 1972) whom she also left in the care of her sister and mother and returned to Brooklyn. In 1975, she and Christian purchased their first US home on East 58th Street in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York and reunited the family by bringing all of their children from Haiti in October of that year.

Yolande went back to school in the 80’s where she attended Medgar Evers College and obtained a B.S. in Nursing in 1984 to satisfy educational requirements needed to continue to advance in her nursing career. Yolande eventually worked at over two dozen hospitals in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan and at four hospitals in Haiti over her 42 year professional career. She retired in 2006 at the age of 63 and moved to McDonough, Georgia with Christian Fabien Sr. to enjoy her retirement. After enjoying 3 years in retirement together, husband, Christian, passed away in March 2009 after 42 years of marriage. Within 2 years of her husband’s death, Yolande moved to Tamarac, Florida where she lived until her death. Yolande Marie Fabien passed away peacefully in her home in metro Fort Lauderdale, in the city of Tamarac, Florida on Tuesday, January 19, 2016.

Yolande Marie Fabien is survived by: sons; Fredenell Fabien, Freypell Fabien, Frantz Fabien, and Christian Fabien, Jr., daughter in-laws; Donna Matheson-Fabien and Rolanda M. Fabien, grandchildren; Christian Hemans-Fabien, Prinston C. Fabien, Cierra H. Fabien, Braxton C. Fabien, Jenna E. Fabien, and Sklya E. Burkett, sisters; Rose Marie “Guerda” Dorleans, Jessie Dorleans, Ruth Maurice, Chantal Maurice, Regine Maurice, and brothers; Serge Dorleans Sr., Pastor Leontes Dorleans, Henri M. Dorleans, Lucien Dorleans, Max-Auguste “Da” Maurice, Jean-Lafontant Maurice, and Roch Litz Maurice. She was preceded in death by husband, Christian Fabien Sr., and sister, Yolette Maurice.