FAMILY members, friends and former musical colleagues met at All Saints Anglican Church in Port of Spain on Wednesday to bid farewell to the late Joslynn Carr-Sealey, singer, music teacher and leading light of the TT Music Festival.
Canon Richard Jacob in his homily hailed her for "a life well-lived, that would have touched on other lives and made a difference."
"One of the things about Joslynne is that you were either comfortable with her or you were afraid of her. I see the laughter and smiles.
"The thing that a lot of folks came to understand was that her supposedly harsh, strict exterior was about challenging you to do your best in every way and drawing out the best in you without excuse. 'Don't pretend you are not going to do this to the best of your ability because I will not permit it.'"
He viewed the funeral service as a way to thank God for having shown everyone a little bit of His honour and glory by way of Sealey's life.
"Go Google it and listen to her arias or any of those things that she did, with Catelli/Trinidad All Stars.
"If your pores don't raise, go and see a doctor and get your temperature checked! You'll know what I'm talking about?"
Jacob recalled his deep conversations with Carr-Sealey.
"She felt that if more persons took the time to explore their gifts and to use them to their fullest potential, we could do anything!
"She believed that!" He reckoned that was why she was so hard on her students and her choir members.
"There are all kind of stories, many sides of Joslynne.
"But because she was chasing perfection and chasing a God who she believed gave her a gift of being able to discern what the thing looked like..."
Jacob recalled some pannists asking how she could be a judge and be linked to All Stars. "But Joslynne was fiercely independent and fiercely honest.
"Eventually the bands would listen to what she said about what happened at Panorama, and why 'this one' didn't get that point and why 'that one' lost this point for that. Then they would tune themselves and organise themselves so they could come back better next time.
"That is part of the legacy of who Joslynne Carr-Sealey was."
He said everyone could all take a page from her book, on how she adapted to her circumstances and planned out her life.
"Our sister Joslynne loved her Jesus. She was ready. She believed He had allowed her to do all kinds of things that were important and she was ready to meet Him.
"I believe Joslynne would say to us, 'Explore your gifts and talents completely because they are God-given and they are God's gift to you.
"'And they may be the way God makes you His gift to someone else.'
"Joslynne was one of God's gifts to us: that desire to make things better, that voice, that intellect and independence."
Jacob thanked God for Carr-Sealey's "legacy that will last."
He recalled a sixth former once refusing Carr-Sealey's urging to sing at Music Festival due to exam pressures, but returning 30 years later. "And guess who was the judge?" he quipped. "They realised that Josly
