On this day, we honor the life of our mother, Mercedes Elinore Godette, nee Brereton. Mercedes passed away peacefully on November 21, 2020 at the age of 84 after a long illness and is predeceased by her husband Augustus Owen Godette. Mercedes was born on the Caribbean Island of Aruba, on February 10, 1936, the daughter of Harold Brereton and Bertille Brereton nee Bender. When she was 4 years old, the family moved to New Amsterdam, Guyana where she lived until her she moved to Georgetown to live with her Aunt Iris and attend St. Roses High School. It was on the Ferry to Georgetown where she met her love and future husband, Augustus Owen Godette (Owen).
After High School, Mercedes moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1954 to live with her father and attend Columbia University. There she studied Pharmacy and received a Bachelor of Science Degree from Columbia’s School of Pharmacy in 1958.
Mercedes married her love, Owen on August 1, 1959. In 1963, they moved to Washington, DC with their two children, Brian and Lisa where Owen attended Howard University School of Medicine while she worked at Drugfair Drug Store as a Pharmacist.
In 1965, Mercedes gave birth to her third child, Camella. Mercedes continued working at Drugfair for many years before becoming a fulltime homemaker. Before there were minivans, she would chauffer her children and their friends to games and other events in her sky blue, wood paneled, station wagon.
Mercedes was a quiet strength and devoted wife and mother. She loved to travel, play tennis, dance and shop and she loved her Coca Cola. Her last audible word was “Coke”.
Mercedes is predeceased by her step sister Irah Carlisle and nephew Kwame Brereton, and survived by her brothers Harold “Bob” Brereton, Alexis Brereton and Keith Brereton, her cousin Patricia Hazlewood nee Read, her children Brian Godette, Lisa Godette and Camella Woodham nee Godette, her Grandchildren, Julian Godette Francis, Caitlyn Woodham and Justin Woodham, Keith Bentley, Jr., Jordan Adams, her in-laws, Hazel-Ann Godette, Garnet Woodham, Jacquelyn Adams, Arnold and Ena Godette, Caroline Dorothy Thierens, Michaela Godette, Desiree Godette, Henry Godette and Compton and Fane Godette, many nieces and nephews and caretakers Joanne Greenaway and Alicia Bobb.
Service: December 1, 2020 at 11:30 am
Streaming Live via www.HinesRinaldiFuneralHome.com(Facebook) or via Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89824523013
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