Mernel C. Harker

Mernel Cleyentise Harker was born to William and Ethlyn Bloomfield in Queensberry, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, on July 5th, 1930. She had five siblings and as a young girl, she spent many weekends with her uncle Raldy Bloomfield and his wife Ela who lived in the neighboring district of Rose Hall as they had no children of their own. Eventually her parents allowed her to live with her aunt and uncle and she attended the Rose Hall Primary School. In her teen years she attended Excelsior Girl’s School in Kingston where she later graduated. While attending school in Kingston, she resided with her uncle Larry Powell on the property of Hope Gardens as he was the chief horticulturalist at the botanical gardens. After finishing school she worked as a clerk for a law firm in Mandeville, in the parish of Manchester where she met her future husband Keith Wilson. The couple migrated to the United States in 1948 where their first son William was born in 1949 in New York. They returned to Jamaica in 1950 and had their second son, Lloyd followed by a third son, Osbourne in 1961. Her Husband, Keith Wilson passed away at a young age in 1965 and Mernel and her three children migrated to New York in 1966. In 1971 she met her second husband, John Harker, in New York and they were married in 1975. The couple resided in New York for several years and returned to Jamaica to live in 1985. Her second husband John passed away in 1992 and Mernel continued to live in the family home until 1999 when she returned to the United States and eventually settled in Florida to be near her three sons. Our beloved mother was devoted to her children and always put her family first. She was a kind, loving, caring, wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, great-great-mother and she helped others in every way she could. She was a spiritual woman whose favorite phrase was “Let go and let God.” She loved her family very much and her little dog Humphry who was treated like her fourth son was her pride and joy. She became ill in August 2010 and steadily declined. She passed into the presence of our Lord on January 16th, 2011 at 12:22 AM. Her spirit is absent from the body and present with the Lord. Mernel is survived by her three sons, six grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, one great-great-grandchild and a host of other relatives and friends. She will forever be in our thoughts and our hearts.

Rest in peace our beloved mother,

We love you and we will meet again God willing.