Dear Sir,

On August 29, our family and multitudes of family and friends congregated at the Salvation Army citadel in Hamilton for the home-going service in honour of our beloved sister Myrah Maureen Phillips Hart, better known as “Bitsy”.

On our arrival at the church, I saw an officer of the Salvation Army and proceeded to give her my CD track to the song I was to sing. She in turn told me there was no one to play the piano or operate the PA system. My thought to that was: “This is unbelievable. Who does that? A funeral service with no music?”

Our family had prepared and planned a musically infused home-going service to honour our beloved sister Bitsy, as she loved singing and music.

Moving forward, a friend of mine, Wendell “Shine” Hayward, came to convey his condolences to me and my family, and added “break a leg” — that’s an artist’s phrase before a performance, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the phrase.

My reply to him was “it may not happen”, as there’s no one to play piano or operate the PA system. He looked at me in amazement and rushed off to deal with the situation,

Then, together with the help of my nephew, Mark Phillips, he made it happen. So as we proceeded into the full-to-capacity church, I heard the sweetest sound of a piano and I recognised the song, as it was the original written by Shine.

The renowned saxophonist was now playing the piano, and that’s when I knew my prayers were being answered. My thought was to let go and let God take control.

Now, as we were seated, came the time for the first congregational hymn to be sung, and once again Shine came to the rescue, as he directed the entire congregation in perfect harmony through the song.

It didn’t end there: as that hymn finished, he gracefully made his way over to me and told me he had worked it out and my sister, nephew and I could go ahead with our musical tributes to honour our beloved sister, Myrah Maureen Phillips Hart — better known as Bitsy.

And thus ended what could have been a total disaster.

Kudos to you, Mr Wendell “Shine” Hayward, as the good in you saved our most memorable day.

May God continue to bless you and always keep you and your family in his favour.

Matthew 5:16 reads as follows:

“Let your light shine before men,

That they may see your good deeds and,

Praise your Father in Heaven.”

Gratefully thanking you.

Submitted by the Phillips family.

JACQUELINE PHILLIPS