Daisy Orane, Douglas Orane's mother. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
The following are excerpts from the remembrance of the late Daisy Orane, who passed away on May 12, as presented by family friend and former Grace director, Ward Mills, during the funeral held last Tuesday at the Temple of Life Church of Religious Science in the Corporate Area.
In October of that year, Vladimir Illych Lenin and his Bolshevik party overthrew the provisional government of Russia, a pivotal event, (the Russian revolution), which changed the world in many significant ways. That year was also the penultimate year of the Great War, The First World War, and Europe shook, trembled and died in the mud, and the rest of the world quaked.
In Jamaica in May, some female property owners were given the right to vote and, in September, a hurricane hit the island for the third year in a row.
A beautiful entrance
The year was 1917, and, on Christmas Day, in a little country village called Spaldings, in the household of Elisha and Agnes Ebanks, there was great excitement and alarm, which caused Elisha to rush to Christiana in his buggy to fetch a doctor and a midwife. When the expected event did not materialise, however, some said it was just a false alarm. But later on, with the 20/20 clarity of hindsight, there are those who realised that, in reality, a very particular person who likes things 'just so', just wanted to be sure they were really ready for her arrival by precipitating a 'dress rehearsal'.
In any event, finally, on December 29, 1917, Daisy May Lucille Ebanks made her entrance into this tumultuous world, an event I would have called matchless, despite all the other excitement, were it not for the fact that, on the front page of The Gleaner that day appeared a prominent advertisement for VULCAN "The Strong Match, The quick Match".
When Daisy arrived, her brother Eric and sisters Winnie and Perle were already here to greet her, but not so brother Roy. He came much later (in 1924), brought in the large black bag carried by Nurse Harrison the midwife, as Daisy was told at the time in explanation for his sudden appearance.
By this time, the family had already moved to Kingston, in 1920 to be exact, for Elisha to take up a teaching post at Kingston Technical. Shortly after, however, they faced the tragedy of Daisy's brother Eric dying at age nine from typhoid fever.
Early childhood
Daisy's early childhood, if not idyllic, was, on balance, happy, in her own estimation. Playing out as it did during the early years of 20th-century Jamaica, it took place against the backdrop of the contradictions - the good and the bad - the beautiful and the not so beautiful tapestry of Jamaican social life ...
... Daisy's first school, at the age of six, was Mico Elementary and from there she went on to Wolmer's Girls' School. Here, according to her, she had some wonderful teachers to whom she was very grateful for giving her such a firm foundation in English, which allowed her natural talent for writing (letters and minutes) to really flourish.
Her sister Winnie had taught her to play the piano and so she played for morning prayers sometimes. She also sang in the choir and played netball and tennis while at Wolmer's. She would also enter drill competitions and once won a prize for speed skipping.
Daisy left Wolmer's in 1935 having, in her estimation, done fairly well in her School Certificate Exams and went on to Suthermere Commercial College to learn shorthand and typing. Her father had already been teaching her bookkeeping for which she had quite a knack, and she got distinctions later in her exams in the subject.
In her late teens, Daisy became a cub mistress and had wonderful times at camp with her friend Gertie Fergusson-Henriques.
Her first job was at Kelly's Liquor store and she afterwards moved on to Jamaica Banana Producers Association. But tallying bananas did not appeal to her and so she decided to let that slide after about a year when she accepted a job offer at Confederation Life Association with a salary of 25 shillings per week. She remembers Jessie Wright giving her her orientation for the job and, perhaps because Daisy not only brought technical competence to the job but also a beautiful and alluring countenance, she was also taught "how to deal with men in the office".
She remained there until 1947 when she embarked on a new chapter in her life.
Meeting her husband
On New Year's Day 1939, the preamble or prelude to that new chapter commenced. At a party that night, held by her friend Maisie McLure, she met a dapper young man, resplendent in sports jacket and two-tone black and white shoes - and a wicked dancer. His name, of course, was Douglas Orane.
The courtship lasted for eight years and entailed quite a bit of theatre-going and partying at the Carib, Glass Bucket, Silver Slipper and Bournmouth - Stardust being their special song.
And their method of transportation? A bicycle of course - though most likely not the tandem bicycle built for two in the song I'm sure Douglas quoted as he 'Lyricised' her. "Daisy, Daisy give me your answer do, I'm half crazy all for the love of you."
In any event, she appears to have taken some time to give him the answer he wanted, although no one can claim she was just taking him for a ride, because they finally got married in February of 1947.
Now, as we know, there is a certain intensity of purpose and resolve which arises from prolonged anticipation and so, I guess it wasn't surprising that, within a short while after the wedding, certain expectations, if you will, became manifest. However, it is said that Grandma Agnes, not being so sure that the young couple had in fact kept the beast caged until the nuptials, spent the next several months in agonising suspense, hoping the math would add up, but fearing the worst. And it wasn't until certain milestones were cleared without issue, as it were, and Douglas Roy was finally born in December, that she really relaxed and realised she had actually been labouring under a misconception.
Marguerite and then Carole were born several years later.
Wonderful children
Bringing up three wonderful, creative, talented and successful children - Daisy, Marguerite and Carole - Daisy ensured she imbued them with the right values and passed along the relevant traits to them.
At the same time, she nurtured and raised their cousins Jennifer, Terry and Andy, and cared for Douglas's Aunt Marion.
She also cast the net of her caring even wider to many other individuals who were fortunate enough to come into her ambit.
In 1951, Douglas Sr, who had been working as a draftsman at Abraham Henriques and Joy, a firm of architects, set up his own business as a building contractor. From the start, Daisy entered the new business as his business partner and accountant.
After a while, they also started a woodwork business and this blossomed into the company, Orane Doors, which eventually moved from Gold Street to Nanse Pen.
When Douglas and Daisy reached 65 years of age, they decided to sell the business and move into another phase of their lives. Obviously this was no shrinking violet but rather, a decidedly dynamic daisy.
Daisy was an avid traveller, visiting many countries outside of Jamaica, and an adventurer, going up in a glider with Marguerite in Hawaii and hunting crocodiles with her grandchildren in Alligator Pond.
No technophobe, she enjoyed using her computer particularly for email and she was the oldest online customer of First Global Bank. Just last year, she threw out her old computer, which, she said, was too slow, and got a new one.
She was a great friend and networker; she kept in touch with all her close friends by email and letter.
Healthy lifestyle
She believed in health for the body as well as the mind and practised yoga and tichee for some time.
She doted on her grandchildren, Zara, Omari, Mark, Alia, Kyle, Victoria, Shane and Yeshema, and her greatgrandson, Bryce. She was all over the place with them and, in fact, they figured in some of her many adventures.
In Bob Marley's song Rebel Music, he asks: "Why can't we be what we wanna be?" Well, Daisy's children, unlike many others in this world, did not have to ask that question. She did not pressure them in any direction and was supportive of whatever they felt they wanted to be.
Aunt Daisy was one of those rare persons who can assess themselves critically and honestly and embark upon self-transformation and change.
She became very positive in her outlook in later life and Doug says he admired her greatly for this. And of course, this had a lot to do with her church - The Temple of Light - which she loved dearly, along with her pastors and mentors Rev John Scott and Rev Elmo Lumsden.
Daisy insisted that life was eternal and that death was not something to be feared. So she was not afraid of making the transition.
She passed to a different plane on Monday, May 12, and we know she was comforted and made confident by a strong belief she once shared with Marguerite.
She said: "Just as there are loving arms to meet us when we are born, there are loving arms to meet us when we die."
May her soul rest in peace.
