OBITUARY
- Rev. Dr. Wilhelmena Grant died in Augusta, Ga.
It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death, on July 17, of Rev. Dr. Wilhelmena Grant, 77 years old, in Augusta, Ga., from complications of COVID-19. She was the wife of Rev. Dr. Wesley Grant Jr., the son of the late Rev. Wesley Grant, Sr., who passed away in 2008 in Asheville, N.C. The Grant family has a close relationship with the Joseph Brothers of the Haiti-Observateur, going back to 1954, when Rev. Grant sponsored Raymond Joseph, the paper’s co-founder, to study in the United States.
Apparently, Lady Grant was sick with coronavirus without knowing it. Neither were other family members aware of it. Ac – cording to her daughter, Lesley Grant, on Sunday, July 12, she passed out at the kitchen table and fell, breaking her ankle. She had just finished taking communion after following a virtual service led by her pastor from Whole Life Ministries. When her husband, Wesley, picked her up and called her by the affectionate name he uses, “Mena, Mena,” she came back, and kept saying, “I feel so refreshed.” She kept repeating the phrase. In addition, she began showing symptoms of shortness of breath. That is when they knew they had to rush her to the hospital. Tests revealed that she had bilateral pneumonia. Two days after she arrived at the hospital, she wanted to come home. “She was adamant about coming home,” said Lesley. There’s no crossing a strong-willed woman like Wilhelmena, when she wants something? “My dad brought her home on the 15th and she slipped away the morning of the 17th,’’ Lesley said, with a trace of sadness in her voice.
Rev. Wilhelmena Grant and her husband were “Zone Pastors at Whole Life Ministries under Dr. Sandra G. Kennedy.” Zone pastors are in a pool assigned to different congregations, as needed. In addition, for 20 years, they’ve participated in a Prison Ministry, at tending spiritually to the detained and helping in changing lives of prisoners who have surrendered to the Lord while in captivity. Wilhelmena Grant leaves a legacy of faith. Said Lesley: “She loved to send up praise to our God Almighty. She was an advocate for people through prayer —a ‘Warrior Intercessor’— and a writer of poems. She was currently working on a book of poems.” Indeed, she had a full life.
Arrangements are being made for a funeral service in Ashe ville, N.C., on Friday, August 7, at Mount Zion Baptist Church, on Eagle Street. Due to capacity restrictions because of COVID19, attendance will be somewhat restricted. Thus, the family is looking at having the service on both Zoom and Facebook. Information about that will be forthcoming.
The beloved Mena is survived by her husband, the Rev. Dr. Wesley Grant, three daughters – Cheri Harper, Roselyn Miller (husband Thomas); and Lesley Grant, as well as by seven grandchildren, two of Cheri and five of Roselyn; also by her brothers-inlaw, all pastors: Louis, John and James Grant and their spouses and children; and sisters-in law: Mary McDaniel, née Grant, and Arsie Ruth Dickson, also née Grant and their families. To all, we, at the Haiti-Observateur, present our sincere condolences.
cet texte est publié par l’hebdomadaire Haïti-Observateur dans l’édition du 22 juillet 2020, VOL. L, No.28 et se trouve en P.14, à cette adresse : http://haiti-observateur.info/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/h-o-20-juillet-2020.pdf