Bo­bie-lee Dixon

A pub­lic view­ing of the body of ac­tress Mairoon Ali, who passed away on Sun­day of a cere­bral haem­or­rhage in the brain, took place at the Holy Name Con­vent Au­di­to­ri­um, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day. Ali was a for­mer dra­ma and his­to­ry teacher at the con­vent. The au­di­to­ri­um was al­most filled to ca­pac­i­ty. Among the mourn­ers were her fel­low thes­pi­ans and friends – Nik­ki Cros­by, De­bra Bou­caud-Ma­son, Ray­mond Choo Kong, Pene­lope Spencer – as well as Port-of-Spain May­or Murchi­son Brown.

Stu­dents, who felt they lost a "one in a mil­lion" teacher, could not con­tain their tears as they viewed the body of Ali, who was dressed in a blue silk top with ac­cor­dion pleats and a match­ing silk skirt. In a brief speech be­fore he led the gath­er­ing in prayer, Fr Gre­go­ry Au­gus­tine de­scribed her as a a gift to many. He said she did not on­ly serve Holy Name Con­vent, but she al­so took un­der her wings stu­dents of Fa­ti­ma Col­lege in­to her dra­ma class.

"We ought to thank God for her ef­fort in di­rect­ing the youth on the right path," Au­gus­tine said. Prin­ci­pal of Holy Name Con­vent, Wendy Aqui, said Ali lived life to the fullest and to the best. "She was a pas­sion­ate woman, liv­ing life to the fullest and to the best and that is what she taught me," she added. Ali will be cre­mat­ed to­day at the St James Cre­ma­to­ri­um, fol­low­ing a pub­lic cel­e­bra­tion of her life at Queen's Hall, St Ann's, from 9 am.