Unique woman of God laid to rest

In a ceremony held at a packed Trinidad Christian Centre in Petit Valley, family members, friends and well wishers came out in their numbers yesterday to pay their last respects to the well-known beauty.

De Jesus-Gulston, 40, lost her battle with cancer last Thursday.

Her professional modelling training began at Shirley’s Modelling Academy International in Philadelphia, and she later pursued managerial, fashion design and fabric design courses at the University of the West Indies’ School of Continuing Studies. Gulston opened her first business at 19 to manage the Miss Arima Borough Queen show in 1985 and 1986. She left her modelling career in her early 20s to become a successful Christian fashion designer.

"Lori had a good heart. She was beautiful in everything she did, she was friendly, wise and most of all intelligent," said Apostle Austin de Bourg, who officiated at the service.

De Bourg highlighted Gulston’s determination to recover and her dedication to God and her family.

"She surprised doctors who described her as a miracle to endure her condition in the manner she did, yet be able to maintain her faith in God," he said.

He said Gulston’s cancer had been reversed a few months ago, and within two weeks her body, "charred" from the effects of chemotherapy, had cleared up drastically without medication.

"Her strength had returned and she just shocked everybody," he said.

However, De Bourg said Gulston’s condition suddenly worsened just over a month ago, and she never recovered.

Delivering the eulogy was Gulston’s close friend Dr Iva Gloudon.

"Beautiful, strong, bold, unique woman of God, all of this was Lori," Gloudon said. She related the many occasions when she took her friend to the St James Cancer Treatment Centre and, despite her weakness, Gulston still managed to have the doctors and nursing assistants laughing, or would have an entire room "in stitches."

"What I admired most about Lori was the way she used her talent to minister to others," Gloudon said.

"She brought a sense of dress to the Body of Christ and was concerned and conscious of how women of God presented themselves."

She said Gulston held many classes and seminars for young women from various churches to teach them how to dress and how to apply make-up.

"The unbridled passion Lori had for fashion and design was overwhelmingly evident in her ability to evoke delight in her clients and customers," Gulston’s husband, Russell Gulston was quoted as saying.

Lori de Jesus Gulston was laid to rest at a private cremation held at the St James Crematorium. She leaves to mourn her 14-year-old daughter Melanie, her husband Russell, her mother, Margarita de Jesus and her siblings.