Today, (Friday, November 8th, 2019) we celebrate the life and legacy, as we say a final goodbye to our beloved mother and God’s faithful servant, Marie Aline Gué, aka, Soeur Yvon, or “Manman,”who on Saturday, October 26, 2019, at 5:25 a.m., after three months of acute illness, departed this life to rejoin her Lord & Savior in heaven.
Born in Jérémie, Haiti, on December 26, 1932, Manman was the last survivor of her family that included late father and mother, Saint-Prévil Gay, and Catherine Chambert, three brothers and one sister, all deceased. Manman died quietly in her home, from health complications associated with cancer. She is survived by her five children: Marie Claude Vital, Jean Marie Vital, Yvette Vital Saint-Louis, Rodrigue Vital, Kenol Vital -a sixth and longtime-adopted daughter, Judith Vital. Manman’s legacy will live on through her fourteen (14) grand-children: Vanessa Pierre-Parker (M.A., LMFT), Jemima Pierre-Taylor, Annie Laetitia Vital, Keren Happuc Vital, Jean Pierre Saint Louis, Yveline Camille Saint Louis, Eudorah Faith Vital, Laylah Alexandrine Vital, Symirah Kai Vital, Matthew Rodrigue Vital, Sgt Noah Kenny Vital (USMC), Allen Kenneth Vital, Nathaniel Jeremy Vital, Kelsie Noelle Vital, and six (6) great-grand-children: Sheldon Anthony Parker, Tahj Lee Parker, Tamia Jolie Parker, Kenya Renee Taylor, Peyton CampbeII Taylor III, and Myra Korine Vital.
Manman was no ordinary woman. She was a devoted mother, grandma, and great-grandma, whose span of affection did not exclusively encompass members of her family. Manman loved all of God’s children and living animals such as the birds that frequently visited her front porch each sunrise and sunset for their daily rations.
Let us all remember Manman for the love she gave us, the peace she promoted among us, and the spirit of forgiveness she cautioned us to have towards one another.
“His Lord said unto him, well done thou good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21)
