Mourners filled the pews of the Wesleyan Memorial Church in West Bay Friday to say their final farewells to Cayman’s last living national hero, Francine Jackson.
Jackson’s efforts in furthering the rights of women in Cayman, her selfless church work, her role as Cayman’s first civil registrar of marriage, her charitable works and her mentorship of young people throughout her life were remembered throughout the funeral service.
Premier André Ebanks, delivering an address honouring Jackson, highlighted her impact on Cayman society by asking all the women in the congregation who had ever stood for office, been elected, were currently or formerly in office, or who had voted in an election, to stand up. He invited the congregation to look around them so they could see for themselves the enormous influence she had had in Cayman.
Jackson had been a member of what was known as the ‘Phenonenal Four’ trailblazers – along with Laurel Watler, Birdell Jackson and Ethel Cook-Bodden – who were the first women to run for office, in the 1959 general election.
Ebanks noted that, even in death, she was still helping to form policy, sharing that, because Jackson’s lying-in-state ceremony was initially supposed to be held in Constitution Hall.
But, the premier said, with her family’s permission and in consultation with the speaker of the house and the Protocol Office, it was decided that, since her role in the Phenomenal Four had directly led to major changes in Parliament, it was right and proper for her lying in state to be held in the House of Parliament.
And, he declared, having reflected that the National Heroes Act is an act of Parliament, “the ceremonies, going forward … should always be at the House of Parliament … so Ms Francine continues to make policy.”
‘Small in stature but larger than life’
Daughter Joy Basdeo told the congregation that Jackson had taught all who knew her of the importance of God, family, community and kindness, and standing up for what is right.
“Much has been said about our mother since her passing on 5 July,” Basdeo said. “Jennifer, Andre and I, and our families, as well as our large extended family, wished to express our pride in our mother for the person she was.
“She was small in stature, but larger than life. She taught us so much in her long life, and she kept teaching us to the very end.
“First, love for God and other, and she extended that love to all and sundry in so many ways; the importance of kindness – and she was kind to a fault; the blessing that is a strong, united family; the necessity of standing up for what is right, and the importance of community.”
The day before the official funeral, her family, which includes her three children, eight grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, had gathered for a private ceremony to remember the woman whom Basdeo described as a mother, grandmother and guiding light.
Thanking those who made the official funeral and lying-in-state in Parliament possible, Basdeo said, “She fought so that Caymanian women could walk into Parliament as equals, could vote, could serve and could lead. That she rested in the very House she held open to us is a tribute she would have received with quiet pride.”
Rose Wedderburn, representing the United Church of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, said Jackson’s faith in God had characterised the depth of her service to her family, country and church.
Jackson was an elder of West Bay’s John Gray Memorial Church, where, Wedderburn said, she was considered a “church mother” whose integrity, humility, grace and compassion shone through. She said Jackson had offered “wise counsel to couples, encouraging and affirming the young people, extending generous hospitality to all, and ensuring that every person who entered the church felt welcomed and valued”.
McKeeva Bush, former premier and former speaker of Parliament, and a neighbour of Jackson’s for 50 years, delivered the eulogy, written by the family.
In the eulogy, Bush highlighted Jackson’s efforts to support and mentor local children. “Children came running to Ms Francine with hugs and kisses,” he said. “Cayman’s children knew, the way children always know, that there was someone who loved them.”
Commending her bravery in standing up for women’s rights, he said, “In a small community, speaking up carried a cost; silence was the safe thing,” adding that Jackson’s efforts had helped open a door for Cayman’s women.
He spoke of the weekly Sunday lunches at her house, to which many were invited and attended, where it wasn’t just food that was shared, but stories, advice and fellowship.
He said she had a list of people she used to phone to wish them happy birthday, as, she had told him, some of those people had no one to call them on their birthdays, so she wanted to do it.
Bush said when she was an obvious choice for being granted national hero status in 2025, because of her work as a teacher, her role as a marriage officiant – who, together with her late husband Vernon, was the celebrant at more than 8,000 weddings – and her constant and committed efforts to care for others.
Among those in attendance at the funeral were Governor Jane Owen, Chief Justice Margaret Ramsay-Hale, Speaker of Parliament Ezzard Miller, Deputy Governor Gloria McField-Nixon, government ministers Nickolas Da Costa and Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, and MPs Julie Hunter and Pearlina McGaw Lumsden.
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