- Date Of Birth: June 17, 1919
- Date Of Death: October 1, 2017
- State: New York
Eileen May Burgher was born in the parish of St. Ann, Jamaica on June 17, 1919, the eldest of three children of Harold and Mary Jane Burgher. A very vibrant and sophisticated young lady in her youth, she excelled in her proficiency in literature, history and poetry. She grew up to be an artist in the hair styling trade of those days, and owned her own small business where she trained others in the craft of hair styling.
She met and married Reginald C. Keizs in 1938. The union produced four children: Hugh, Jean, Marcia and Dale.
Among the gifts she was blessed with was a wonderful contralto voice which she applied in her service on the choir of the Hanover Street Baptist Church in Kingston. As a young child, she performed as a soloist with the choir even having performances in a radio broadcast. In the pursuit of developing her vocal talent, she went off to Great Britain for voice training. However, the demands of family needs ultimately frustrated that effort and the dream was surrendered.
On her arrival in the United States, coming to her daughter’s college graduation, she secured work first as a nanny and then with Chemical Bank in New York City, where she served for over twenty years. During those years, she was an active of Wakefield Grace congregation in the Bronx serving in various offices. She was also very active in the Penfield Street Civic Association and engaged in citizenship work in the neighborhood. Some years after her retirement, she relocated to Hartsdale with her daughters and became something of a legend in the Winter Park where she has resided for over twenty-three years. Many neighbors have come to know her and ask about her longevity and her family.
Eileen engaged in active travel with family and friends to Europe, the Caribbean, Panama, Alaska, Canada and all parts of the United States especially Georgia and Florida where she has so many family and friends.
Over the past several years, she has become the central figure for all her family and friends. Regardless of the generational or occupational demands, she drew us in her warm gravitational embrace.
If one wanted to know of the whereabouts of some long lost friend or relative, she was the link to that contact. Her long relationship with the Wakefield Grace Church Family, where she served in many capacities, has won her many warm friendships and forged familial ties. So she is fondly referred to by most as Mama or Mother Keizs.
Sadly mourning her passing are her four children; step-children Manley, Sonia and Jimmy; sister Phyllis Morgan and brother-in-law Vincent Morgan; daughters-in-law Sybil, Joan and Elaine; nieces, Roseneath Jackson, Eileen Boxill; grandchildren Judanna, Hal, Duane, Howard, Nanaesi and Sonji and their spouses; sixteen great-grandchildren and one great, great-grandchild, and a host of family and friends in Canada, Europe, Jamaica and across the United States.
