Brave Gwyneth Shand laid to rest

ALTHOUGH she was afflicted with illness from childhood, Gwyneth Shand, 48, wasn’t obsessed with her body but knew how to live within that body, Fr Clyde Harvey said at a funeral service yesterday for Shand who died on Saturday after battling many serious illnesses.

Her sister Denise Clarke who delivered the eulogy at the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Fernando, spoke of Gwyneth’s great strength in coping with all the problems that beset her life. The church was packed to capacity with relatives, friends and hundreds of students of the Pleasantville Comprehensive, Cedros Composite and Marabella Junior Secondary where she became principal. Shand died on Saturday of a rare cancer she had been battling since childhood. Her life-long battle with sarcoidosis was recalled in the eulogy which described her as struggling to live, as wife, parent, teacher, artist, a steelpan player, choir member and counsellor. A curious mixture of practical woman and visionary best described Shand who wrote a book, Murphy Unmasked, describing how she coped with her illnesses and life experiences. Clarke told the congregation that her sister’s childhood was tinged and encircled with misfortune and uncommon illnesses which she fought with faith and an endearing sense of humour.

At the height of her career, the mother of three sons fought the rare multi-symptom disease. Several of the organs of her body became inflamed and Shand was forced to retire from teaching. She was said to have brought out the best in her students —a teacher who always had a smile on her face. Constantly going into and coming out of hospitals and knocking on the doors of specialist doctors to ease her pains, Shand even went abroad for treatment. It could be said that Shand really began living when the disease took a turn for the worse. She played pan with Fonclaire and sang in the church’s choir even though, Clarke said, the disease had affected the nerves in her right jaw and lungs. From her hospital bed, Shand would make gifts for her students. She began writing an autobiographical account of the traumatic years of her illness. She was featured on television for the courage she displayed and how she coped as a mother, wife and teacher. In fact, Clarke announced yesterday, Shand even wrote some of her funeral wishes. She delegated sister June Johnston to choose yesterday’s hymns. Son Michael read the Second Reading.

Officiating priest Fr Clyde Harvey, recalled how recently it was a smiling Shand who told him that doctors had discovered “more cancer in her body”. He told the congregation: “She took it with stride, because she had a desire to live freely within that body.” He added:  “For Shand, it was not what kind of body God had given her, but how to live within that body.” Recently, Shand had her house painted before leaving for Miami for treatment. She never returned to the house to live in it. “Instead, she has gone home,” Clarke said. Gwenyth is survived by husband, Larry and three sons, Craig, Michael and Mark.