Sascha Wil­son

Mu­si­cal di­rec­tor of the South­er­naires Choir Joy Cae­sar was re­mem­bered an amaz­ing woman who ded­i­cat­ed her life to cul­ture, com­mu­ni­ty and fam­i­ly.

Glow­ing trib­utes in ho­n­our of her ac­com­plish­ments and the car­ing and the hum­ble in­di­vid­ual she was, flowed dur­ing her fu­ner­al ser­vice at St Bene­dict’s Ro­man Catholic Church in La Ro­maine to­day.

Cae­sar’ nephew Nigel Cae­sar eu­lo­gised his aunt as the ul­ti­mate event plan­ner, ex­cel­lent project plan­ner and true states woman.

Not­ing that she ex­celled in all as­pects of her life, he said in 1994 she shat­tered the prover­bial glass ceil­ing to be­come the first woman to be ap­point­ed vice pres­i­dent of Citi Group T&T Ltd. Af­ter 32 years ser­vice she re­tired in 2002 and was lat­er award­ed the Citi Dis­tin­guished Alum­ni Award for Com­mu­ni­ty In­volve­ment.

“One won­ders how she was able to find time to serve the com­mu­ni­ty, lead a top in­ter­na­tion­al bank, di­rect an award-win­ning Souter­naires group, be so in­volved in the church and char­i­ty work and still make her­self avail­able at any time to as­sist and lend guid­ance and sup­port to a friend or fam­i­ly mem­ber.”

He likened her to the Olivia Pope in the tele­vi­sion se­ries Scan­dal as she was the per­son every­one would go to for ad­vice or help in all mat­ters. Al­ways the life of the par­ty, he said Cae­sar al­so en­sured that she was al­ways in the lat­est styles and trends.

A re­cip­i­ent of the Cha­co­nia Medal Gold for com­mu­ni­ty ser­vice, he said Cae­sar’s mu­si­cal ca­reer that spanned over five decades al­so earned her nu­mer­ous awards.

Not­ing that their friend­ship spanned over 40 years, San Fer­nan­do may­or Ju­nia Re­grel­lo re­called that they served to­geth­er on sev­er­al cul­tur­al com­mit­tees and State boards, as well as her choir and his Skif­fle Bunch Steel­band shared many a stage.

Cae­sar, 75, who died on Oc­to­ber 10 was laid to rest at Par­adise Pas­ture Ceme­tery.