Several sittings of law courts were suspended yesterday as members and staff of the judiciary paid final respects to one of their own – Vernita Marguerita Birch, clerical officer and wife of Magistrate Christopher Birch.
The St Leonard’s Anglican Church at Westbury Road, St Michael, was filled to capacity as relatives, friends, co-workers, judges, magistrates, members of the legal fraternity, Acting Governor General Elliot Belgrave and Chief Justice Marston Gibson gathered for the thanksgiving service for the life of Birch, 36, who died December 3 as a result of complications during childbirth.
Justice Sherman Moore, delivering the eulogy, recalled that Birch had a warm, loving, big personality.
He shared not only his personal memories of “Vern”, as she was affectionately known, but those of employees at the Registration Department where she worked for almost ten years.
“She was fun-loving and would erupt into laughter at the drop of a hat. Her laugh was infectious . . . . She was strong-willed and stuck to her guns for what she believed in,” Moore read from the department’s tribute.
Read the full story in today’s WEEKEND NATION.
