Obituary • Video • Audio • Eulogy • Condolences
SYLVESTER ST. AUGUSTINE SHALLOW (56), better known as 'Plug' of Belmont, died on Sunday July 24, 2016. The funeral took place on Saturday 6th August at the Kingstown Church of Christ building. Viewing began at noon. Tributes began at 1:00 pm. The service began at 2:00 pm. Burial was be at the Kingstown Cemetery. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, sis. Cynthia, family, colleagues and friends.
Funeral Service
Eulogy | By Naomi Shallow (Sister) |
This is a reflection on the life the late Sylvester St. Augustine Shallow better known as Plug. I called him master Plug as he always exhibited a high level of mastery in whatever he was doing or saying. Plug was very thoughtful, loving and kind.
Sylvester St. Augustine Shallow was the 6th child of nine children for our parents Viola and Percival Shallow of Belmont. He was born on 18th February, 1960. He attended the Belmont Primary School and then mommy felt that he should have a skill and got a job for him at Public Works, Arnos Vale to learn carpentry. However, Plug always had a passion for things electrical and electronics sought employment with Cyrus Electrical Services and then he worked with Val-U Electrical Services. He later joined the St. Vincent Electricity Services Ltd on the 30th April, 1987.
Nevertheless, he did not stop there because the Lord blessed him with the ability to wire houses, fix radios, televisions and whatever he decided to fix up. Plug started to do all these things before he had official training. So he pursued a course in Electrical installation at the St. Vincent Technical College which gave him the certification to realize his dream in all things electrical. Plug wired all of us houses.
Plug resided in Belmont because he was the one who returned to take care of our grandmother after the death of our brother Nigel when tragedy struck him at the very tender age of 17. Nonetheless, after the death of our grandmother, he never returned to Casson Hill; he decided to remain in Belmont where he constructed his house. He was blessed with two sons. The first one was taken at a very early age at 8 by a vehicular accident and the second son is Prince who is 9 years old.
In every family, there is always a special sibling who behaves differently and Plug was that sibling. He was very independent and always felt that he had do everything for himself. Plug was always busy either working or somewhere fixing something for somebody. When we had family get togethers, he would say he is coming and sometimes he was a no show or he would show up and stayed only for a few minutes or arrive first and leave first.
Plug always had many sayings and always had a name for a family member. He referred to his nephew Delano as “Spinks”, any little one he called “Jackawinky”. His niece Sharese he called Robin Hood, another niece Abeni, he called her “Ninja Turtle” and yours truly, he called “Sister Nancy”. He had this way of saying “now you see me and now you don’t” and he was gone again. Those who knew him knew he was always busy; he never stayed in one place for too long. Whenever Plug felt you were trying to get him to do something he didn’t want to do, he would say, Maaan, maaan, maaan…..
He always liked to help people. He was known for assisting anyone who went to him to either get their house wired, something fixed or whatever the case maybe, he will do it for you once it was not illegal. He has touched many lives in many ways even by just throwing a really good joke. He would have had many persons cracking up as we say in colloquial terms. Many looked forward for those jokes. Even when he was ill, he was still cracking his jokes. No one could have gotten Plug to do anything he did not want to do; even when he was unable to do anything for himself. He still made the decisions for his life. He used to say to me “me and you must be greeing to good nuh”.
He always had good advice for the younger ones such as my daughter Abeni where he would encourage her to be obedient. He would often say to her “Like you don’t know what is going on. You would learn”. You must hear when your mother talk to you. In mommy times you done get a hard slap”, reflecting on how mommy used to discipline us. He would tell his son Prince to hear and to take care of his mother.
When the illness started to manifest itself and we found out in a mysterious manner. He lived at our sister's home Christine for one year. Then Plug and his long time friend Cynthia for over twenty years got together as a couple. Plug was a changed person. He and Cynthia now made decisions together. They saw each other as soul mates. When you were around Plug and Cynthia, you could have seen that they loved each other. They always made jokes and display their love for each other openly. Plug would always say, "Me love me Cynthia ah nuh". Plug loved Cynthia dearly.
He decided it was time to change his way of life. He gave his heart to the Lord which all of us were very happy for. He and Cynthia got married. Then he got baptized and was truly serving in the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Plug was a very strong person. Even during his period of illness he displayed a high level of resilience. His brain was always ticking even down to the last; he never lost his spunk and still threw a punch or two. When I was leaving him that Sunday afternoon, I said my usual prayer over him and he said to me “You can’t change that road March dey; you always have the same road march all the time”.
Plug had a special way in which he shook your hand. If you ever got a hand shake from him you would know what I am talking about. You must walk away remembering that handshake as you would have felt his powerful squeeze. And when he was leaving us, he left with that same special handshake; he squeezed the nurse’ hand and went home to be with his Lord.
I want to thank Cynthia for taking care of our brother. Cynthia is a woman of substance, a woman of resilience, a masterful woman. Cynthia was a tower of strength for our brother and she wore many hats. She was friend, wife, nurse, doctor, according to Abeni a chemist, too numerous to mention but I know we wanted to thank you publicly for standing by him to the very end. Cynthia you are a great person and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you, strengthen you, keep you in his perfect peace, the peace which passeth all understanding which shall keep your heart and mind stayed upon him through Christ Jesus.
On behalf of the family, a special thank you to his church family, colleagues at VINLEC, family members, well wishers and many friends who always visited, prayed, sang and always had a word of encouragement. He was never short visitors. A special thanks to all nurses who provided care for him both at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and at the nurses at the Calder Clinic.
We express our deepest appreciation and sincere thanks to all who called, sympathized and encouraged in our time of bereavement. …A heart-felt thank you to all
Sylvester St. Augustine Shallow was the 6th child of nine children for our parents Viola and Percival Shallow of Belmont. He was born on 18th February, 1960. He attended the Belmont Primary School and then mommy felt that he should have a skill and got a job for him at Public Works, Arnos Vale to learn carpentry. However, Plug always had a passion for things electrical and electronics sought employment with Cyrus Electrical Services and then he worked with Val-U Electrical Services. He later joined the St. Vincent Electricity Services Ltd on the 30th April, 1987.
Nevertheless, he did not stop there because the Lord blessed him with the ability to wire houses, fix radios, televisions and whatever he decided to fix up. Plug started to do all these things before he had official training. So he pursued a course in Electrical installation at the St. Vincent Technical College which gave him the certification to realize his dream in all things electrical. Plug wired all of us houses.
Plug resided in Belmont because he was the one who returned to take care of our grandmother after the death of our brother Nigel when tragedy struck him at the very tender age of 17. Nonetheless, after the death of our grandmother, he never returned to Casson Hill; he decided to remain in Belmont where he constructed his house. He was blessed with two sons. The first one was taken at a very early age at 8 by a vehicular accident and the second son is Prince who is 9 years old.
In every family, there is always a special sibling who behaves differently and Plug was that sibling. He was very independent and always felt that he had do everything for himself. Plug was always busy either working or somewhere fixing something for somebody. When we had family get togethers, he would say he is coming and sometimes he was a no show or he would show up and stayed only for a few minutes or arrive first and leave first.
Plug always had many sayings and always had a name for a family member. He referred to his nephew Delano as “Spinks”, any little one he called “Jackawinky”. His niece Sharese he called Robin Hood, another niece Abeni, he called her “Ninja Turtle” and yours truly, he called “Sister Nancy”. He had this way of saying “now you see me and now you don’t” and he was gone again. Those who knew him knew he was always busy; he never stayed in one place for too long. Whenever Plug felt you were trying to get him to do something he didn’t want to do, he would say, Maaan, maaan, maaan…..
He always liked to help people. He was known for assisting anyone who went to him to either get their house wired, something fixed or whatever the case maybe, he will do it for you once it was not illegal. He has touched many lives in many ways even by just throwing a really good joke. He would have had many persons cracking up as we say in colloquial terms. Many looked forward for those jokes. Even when he was ill, he was still cracking his jokes. No one could have gotten Plug to do anything he did not want to do; even when he was unable to do anything for himself. He still made the decisions for his life. He used to say to me “me and you must be greeing to good nuh”.
He always had good advice for the younger ones such as my daughter Abeni where he would encourage her to be obedient. He would often say to her “Like you don’t know what is going on. You would learn”. You must hear when your mother talk to you. In mommy times you done get a hard slap”, reflecting on how mommy used to discipline us. He would tell his son Prince to hear and to take care of his mother.
When the illness started to manifest itself and we found out in a mysterious manner. He lived at our sister's home Christine for one year. Then Plug and his long time friend Cynthia for over twenty years got together as a couple. Plug was a changed person. He and Cynthia now made decisions together. They saw each other as soul mates. When you were around Plug and Cynthia, you could have seen that they loved each other. They always made jokes and display their love for each other openly. Plug would always say, "Me love me Cynthia ah nuh". Plug loved Cynthia dearly.
He decided it was time to change his way of life. He gave his heart to the Lord which all of us were very happy for. He and Cynthia got married. Then he got baptized and was truly serving in the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Plug was a very strong person. Even during his period of illness he displayed a high level of resilience. His brain was always ticking even down to the last; he never lost his spunk and still threw a punch or two. When I was leaving him that Sunday afternoon, I said my usual prayer over him and he said to me “You can’t change that road March dey; you always have the same road march all the time”.
Plug had a special way in which he shook your hand. If you ever got a hand shake from him you would know what I am talking about. You must walk away remembering that handshake as you would have felt his powerful squeeze. And when he was leaving us, he left with that same special handshake; he squeezed the nurse’ hand and went home to be with his Lord.
I want to thank Cynthia for taking care of our brother. Cynthia is a woman of substance, a woman of resilience, a masterful woman. Cynthia was a tower of strength for our brother and she wore many hats. She was friend, wife, nurse, doctor, according to Abeni a chemist, too numerous to mention but I know we wanted to thank you publicly for standing by him to the very end. Cynthia you are a great person and I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you, strengthen you, keep you in his perfect peace, the peace which passeth all understanding which shall keep your heart and mind stayed upon him through Christ Jesus.
On behalf of the family, a special thank you to his church family, colleagues at VINLEC, family members, well wishers and many friends who always visited, prayed, sang and always had a word of encouragement. He was never short visitors. A special thanks to all nurses who provided care for him both at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital and at the nurses at the Calder Clinic.
We express our deepest appreciation and sincere thanks to all who called, sympathized and encouraged in our time of bereavement. …A heart-felt thank you to all
