JUSTINE LAVOILE

Life Story  

Dear families and friends, We are gathering here to celebrate the life of Justine Lavoile. I am going to make a short description of the route her life took until her passing on November 18 of this year.  

Justine Lavoile was born on December 12, 1926 in the city of Aquin located in southern Haiti. She was the first of a set of twins, the second one was her twin brother, Justin. Unfortunately, he died at an early age. She never had a chance to enjoy her twin brother. At 12 years old, Justine moved to Port Au Prince, the capital city of Haiti, to live with her sister to attend a better school. There, later on, she was enrolled in a trade school where she learned how to design clothing and do broderies. In her early twenties, she moved back to her hometown Aquin to start a small business of making and selling clothes. She also started to teach many young girls her trade so they could  make a living. She added up a small restaurant to her assets. She was doing very well economically.       

 In 1964, a terrible Hurricane called Flora destroyed her business and took away her house, killing a lot of people in her town including many friends and family members. Despite that setback, during the recovery period, she took some loans and with time she was able to rebuild her business. Over the years, she was able to take good care of her children, her extended family, and lend a hand to many needy people around her. In 1988, because her children were grown and moved away, she moved to the United States to be closer to her older daughter Francoise who resided in San Diego, California. In 1989, my family and I moved here. We needed a babysitter for our three young daughters, so we met and hired her. She immediately became a mother to Josie and I and a grandmother to our children. She became a Seventh Day Adventist member and was baptised in this very church.     

Justine Lavoile was a loving mother to her 4 daughters, a caring grandmother to her 8 grand-children, and 3 great grand-children. She had a great and generous heart. She practiced what Jesus preached in the Gospel “Do well to whoever mistreated you.” Her favorite Bible passage was the “ Lord Prayer” but above all, she loved Jesus and rarely missed church. She enjoyed a healthy life until two years ago. At the beginning of the pandemic, the isolation and the restriction on medical care for none Covid patients allowed stomach cancer to sneak in. By the time she resumed seeing a physician, the cancer was advanced and caused heavy stomach bleeding. Finally, that cancer took her life on November 18 at 1:30 AM. She will be greatly missed.     

Justine Lavoile is survived by her 4 daughters: Francoise Toussaint, Suze Lalanne, Kettelie Saint-Elias, Guerda Lavoile, her sister Celia Saint-Cyr, by her 8 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren, many nieces and nephews. 

I want to present my condolences to everyone affected by her passing, especially to the Lavoile family, Toussaint, Saint-Cyr, Jean-Baptiste, Saint-Elias, Saturne, and Eugene. May God be with you.                                                                

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