Neva Elaine Naidu

Neva Elaine Naidu was born to James and May Viola Marshall in Georgetown, Guyana. She was the fifth of eight children, two of whom died very early. Her education started at Kitty Methodist School, then later to Broad Street Government School. She attended Tutorial High School and the Government Technical Institute she gained a Certificate in Business Administration which assisted her in her field of employment. She was married to the late Oscar Naidu and their union produced six children. Despite her busy schedule as a mother, wife, teacher, seamstress and gardener, Elaine always worked and made time for community involvement. We remember her being very active in three villages, Allness, Rose Hall and Albion on the Corentyne traveling around teaching Maypole Dancing to young girls, and helping to organize village fairs. Later, the family moved to Georgetown where the children attended school. The family migrated to Montreal Canada where she spent two years. There she attended Vanier College and got her Certificate in Early Childhood Care. This was of immense help to her when she moved to the United States and entered into the field of Baby Care, a job she did for a long time gaining the respect and confidence of those with whom she worked. The babies she cared for are now grown men and women; the parents, many of them, still keep in touch. On retiring Elaine and Oscar moved to Florida. She was not prepared to sit idly by so she took a course at TECO and got certified as a Nursing Assistant. She joined the staff at Mariner Health care where she worked for another seven years. As one fellow nurse said “Neva was like a breath of fresh air blowing through the corridors.” Not only did she bring cheer to the sick and lonely, but she always found time to pray with a passing soul or even with her fellow workmates. Her constant words of encouragement brought hope to many. In Kissimmee, she continued her community involvement. She was a volunteer at Kissimmee City Hall for eight years. She became very active with the women of Faith Baptist Church Prayer Group and AARP. She developed new friendships with several Caribbean women of also called Central Florida home. These became her family. At an early age, she was taught the importance of prayers by her grand-parents and mother who were all devout Christians. Elaine knew that when things got tough there was only place to go – down on your knees. Throughout her life she was very involved in church work. She loved to sing hymns and everyone knew how she would suddenly burst out with an old favorite hymn. Her children, friends and relatives would call from near or far requesting prayers for some tense situation or sickness. Our Mother wrote her own obituary, but she did not do herself justice. No one knows her like we do. She was the rock and anchor of this family, the family matriarch. Neva Elaine Naidu, a phenomenal woman, Mother, Wife, Sister, Grand-mother, Aunt, Friend. Let us share with you some of our memories. As kids, Mummy and Daddy worked tirelessly to make a better life for us. As a young bride, with young kids, she realized it would be difficult to work outside of the home while raising young kids, so she started a kindergarten school under the house. A few years later, after building their own home, she opened a snack shop to supplement Dad’s income. For approximately five years, she taught kindergarten school while running the shop and taking care of the home and her young kids. In 1966, she and Dad decided to move to the city so that the children would have better educational opportunities. Our mother approached her friend, Agatha Petrie who had a secretarial school so she could acquire some secretarial skills. Mrs. Petrie needed a teacher so made an offer – start taking classes at night, and once you have taken two classes, you can start to teach the day students. So that’s what she did – Student at night, teacher by day. Her knowledge was always two days ahead of her students. That’s only one example of what she would do for her family. Family Time was a given. Whether it was going to church, playing games or taking family trips, we did it as a family. Our mother would gather her six children, her nieces and nephews to go on a picnic. She and our Dad would pack the car with food, blankets, and other necessities and we would visit other relatives in other towns and villages. Having limited resources was not a hindrance to spending quality family time. Mummy taught us that we could be anything we want to be, and get anything that we want as long as we set our minds to it. She must have taken lessons from the widow at Zarephath who never ran out of flour when she baked the bread for Elijah. We knew we did not have, or had very little, but we did not want. We needed a new fridge. She probably had 10 -20% of the required price. We got the fridge. We were saving for a car. A car became available and we probably only had about 75% of the asking price, we got the car. Our mother said, you want something, you get 50% of the price and I’ll match it, and we weren’t allowed to solicit donations for the 50%. We had to earn it, by doing chores for aunts and uncles. She taught us how to climb the biggest mountains and achieve the highest goals. Elaine now joins Oscar in her new heavenly home. She leaves behind her six children, Deryck, Allison, Pelham (Lydia), Jacqueline (Vilmont), Andrea (Donald) and Margot (Colwin); eleven grand-children, thirteen great grand-children; sisters, Lynette (Purves), Eileen and brother, Oscar; nieces, nephews, cousins, and adopted family members too numerous to mention. Sleep on beloved, sleep and take thy rest Lay down thy head upon the Savior’s breWe love you, yes, but Jesus loves you best. The family will receive friends on Saturday, February 22, 2014 at Faith Baptist Church, Kissimmee from 12-2PM with a service to be held at 2PM with Pastor Todd Marcy officiating. Interment to follow at Osceola Memory Gardens Cemetery, Kissimmee. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in her memory to the American Cancer Society, P.O. Box 22718 Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1718 or phone 800-227-2345, or Cancer.org. Arrangements under the direction of Osceola Memory Gardens Funeral Home, 1717 Old Boggy Creek Road, Kissimmee, FL 34744 (407) 847-2494 www.OsceolaMemGds.com

Neva Elaine Naidu

August 15, 1929 - February 18, 2014