Algie Mama, Gg, or Mother J A. Lee Gohagen

On April 5, 1923, in Jamaica W.I., Ernest Lee and Minta Basco were blessed with a baby girl whom they named Algie Alberta Lee. She became the wife of Clifford Gohagen and together they had seven children. Born to her were five baby girls whom they named Jeirl, Verley, Kerley, Rona (Pelly), and Cheryl (Praxy), and two baby boys whom they named Whitland and Ian (Dave). Her two step children were Minta and Pansy. Each of her children brought a precise purpose to her life and she worked as a seamstress to provide for her family.

As a mother, she was committed to the balancing act of raising her children while working, serving God, and helping others. Being human, she too had her failures but trusted that through the sacrifice of Jesus she was forgiven for them. It molded the way she viewed the world and interacted with others. She trusted that this belief would give her eternal life. Confident in this purpose, she desired to tell others that they too could have this hope if they believe. She was known to say, “I don’t only trust in Jesus, I confident Him!”

She frequently traveled from the United States to Jamaica gathering supplies from family and friends in the U.S. and bringing them back to the needy in her community. Some joke that she was a kind of Robin Hood who took from the poor to give to the poorer. She was called “Mother J”. An encounter with Mother J couldn't be brief enough for her not to tell you “Jesus is coming soon and you can’t be getting ready, you have to be ready".

She become an ordained minister and officiated at weddings and funerals. In the states she cared for grandchildren who needed her and in Jamaica she established a church and pre-school. She welcomed children to attend her school at no cost. Often she shared with us the many miracles she witnessed in her time.

Throughout her years she inherited twenty four grandchildren, twenty six great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. She was known to them as “Mama” and “GG”. Though she had many sorrowful experiences, she always tried to be joyful. Always having a joke to share, she would have you laughing in tears; she had an unforgettable smile. Having survived her husband, two of her children, one step-child and four grandchildren, she was considered the Matriarch of her family.

Even in her old age, she traveled back and forth as though she was a young woman. For many years she donned a head full of gray hair but had only begun to feel the full effects of old in 2010. She gradually became completely dependent on others but believed, even then, that God had placed her in a position to tell her caretakers about the “Good News of Salvation".

In her last days, even with failing memory, she never missed the note of a hymn. She would sing “You are My Sunshine” to those who loved and visited her. She would often express her need to get up and walk so she could do more. She desired for her children to know that her love for them was greater than the love she had in caring for others. Months before her passing one of her grandchildren asked her how she was doing and her reply was “not good”. When she was asked why, she replied “how can I be good when all my children are not saved?” This season of her life brought her rest and a time of reflection.

She spent her life telling everyone to believe in Jesus, and at the end of ninety years she accepted her limits and embraced God’s will to give her rest from her toil in this world.

She was sung to sleep by her daughter, being reassured that the angels would carry her off into eternal life and that she had finished the race. She breathed her last breath at 7:30 am on Monday, November 26th, 2013.

Beyond our limited understanding of time and space we know that God’s promises are true and we will see Mama again.

These final words are the favorite sayings of Algie Alberta Gohagen (Mama or GG), “The best is yet to come!”