Of St John’s Anglican Church and Allison Morris – Part III Urges, hope, and anguish

Allison Morris, nee Francis, has a long familial connection to Black River, where St John’s Anglican Parish Church is situated, in St Elizabeth.

She was christened and grew up in St. John’s, which she regards the church of her black ancestors, where she learned to play the piano.

And in 2011, Morris established ‘Way Back When – Black River Heritage Tour’, on which she takes people around the township, telling them about the historical markers, including

St John’s, of course, where she would end the tour by playing the organ.

She was first taught to play the organ by Beryl Joyce Harris, then vice principal at Black River Secondary School, and also a member of St John’s. And at Hampton School in St Elizabeth, her music teacher ... Johnston, conservatory-trained in Canada, was incidentally from Black River herself.

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Morris was one of the organists at St John’s before she left to attend The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus. After UWI, where she had joined the steel pan band, she got married, returned to live in Black River, and became St John’s main organist. She also started a steel pan band, Genesis. For 30 years, she played the organ, on and off, but has been main organist for 20 straight years.

So, is Morris more connected to St John’s than any other living resident in Black River? “I would think, maybe there are other people in the church who have a long familial connected, but maybe they can’t trace it … I am the one who has managed to trace back, officially, to this generation,” she replied.

Her grandmother was secretary at the church, doing all sorts of community projects, from within the church, and training young women from the community in different things. And, her mother came along, doing the same thing, likewise her father, she shared, but when Melissa came along, it was a totally different narrative. It was not to participate and preserve. She upended Morris’ life, literally.

With all of that history and intimate connection to St John’s, Morris said, “I don’t know, I cannot tell you exactly, but what I can tell you, it’s just being strange and disconnected,” when she was asked about how she felt about St John’s wreck. She is really rocked by a variety of emotions. She had expected some damage, but not the high-level of destruction that she saw on the morning after Melissa.

Three days before Melissa’s arrival, Morris had “an urge” to take pictures of the historical buildings in Black River. They had got some damage during the passage of Hurricane Beryl last year, and so she surmised that this time around it could be worse. “I wanted to take all of them one time, but I don’t know why I wanted to take all of them one time,” she shared.

She would usually take some photos and videos on a Saturday for her tour, so, the urge came to take pictures of the buildings starting at the bridge. But, she had mixed feelings, saying that she was calling down Melissa on the buildings with her picture-taking. “Where is your faith? She asked herself. “Then a mind seh, you came out to take the pictures, go and do it, so, I did it,” she shared.

Morris took the photos, and by the afternoon of Tuesday, October 28, the historical buildings captured within were flattened. Her mind is now a potpourri of emotions, and in the days, as the mornings progress, she gets brain fogs.

“It’s going up to 12, and I can’t even tell you anything sensible,” Morris said during the interview. Sometimes, for a brief moment, she doesn’t remember that the hurricane happened, and then reality hits like a sledgehammer. She had cried many times, and lacks the motivation to take her regular morning walk. Will she ever recover from this great loss? And, she was full of hope, even as the system was swirling towards Jamaica.

On the Sunday before Melissa, only seven people, including Morris and the priest, were at Church. Some others had assumed that since the building weas battened up and all, there would be no service. But, there was one, and Morris went up on the platform to play the organ. She was not even perturbed for a moment when the priest had earlier expressed his concern about the roof. She was hopeful Melissa would not lift it.

Morris also took two photos of the interior of the church to show the absent church committee members that church was in session. After they were sent, she thought about deleting them to save space, for they had served their purpose, to be seen by the people who were not present. But, for some reason she did not press the delete button. And, she had absolutely no idea that she had taken the last photos of the interior of St John’s Anglican Church, while it was still intact.