Ilene Beatrice Mattick was born on February 7th, 1928 as the 5th and last child to the late Ianthe Thompson and the late James Arthur Alleyne. Ilene entered peacefully into eternal rest at Boston Medical Center on January 14, 2022 at age 93.

While Ilene’s mother was of Panamanian heritage, Ilene and her dad were both born in Barbados. Ilene, who I’ll also refer to as mummy occasionally, recanted growing up with her mum (Ianthe) who stayed in her life until her own passing in 1969.

Mummy’s career as a shop assistant spanned from the tender age of 13 through age 61. 26 of those years were spent at Euclid Jones’ Supermarket in Eagle Hall, St. Michael where our mom did everything from stacking shelves and operating the cash register to cooking meals for Euclid and his family on a regular basis. (A shop attendant cooking meals, huh. Go figure, but mummy loved to cook. And eat.)

Mummy was an active member of the United Pentecostal Assemblies of God Tabernacle in Barbados until she immigrated to the United States in 1989 where she subsequently became a member of Wesley United Methodist Church in Boston.

Mummy was offered the opportunity to come to the United States by her loving niece Marjorie Morris. Our mum decided that since most of us (her children) were still young at the time, she would let her oldest daughter Evadney take that opportunity.

When mummy was age 61, Evadney was able to sponsor her as a permanent resident to live in the US. Mummy finally took the opportunity and made a career change once she got to the US, working for the next 10 years as a Home Health Aide to a family in Long Island, New York. Immediately after her retirement at age 71, mummy moved to Boston, MA to assist in the care of her grandson Rasheed with whom she developed a deep bond.

There are many memories we have of our dear Ilene, which we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives. Memories such as the many, many times she made us laugh with her comments, antics and humor.

Her granddaughters Sonia and Juleen, used to refer to her as “Ba”. You’ll probably think that’s weird but my family is a little weird. You see, their father’s mom was already known to them as “Ma”, so to call their mother’s mom “Ma” as well, no-one would be able to tell which one they were referring to so mummy became “Ba”.

Mummy instilled in us at a very young age the need to work hard for what you wanted. She taught us how to take care of ourselves and not depend too heavily on any man or woman to do that for us. As a result, even my brothers, George and Patrick, knew how to cook, wash and do any other chore that was back in those days, typically considered a woman’s job.

Mummy was like a human calculator. You could give her the largest list of numbers without breaking them down into hundreds, tens and units and mummy could calculate the total in literally seconds. Maybe that’s where I got my love of numbers from.

Our mom loved to cook and she loved to eat. This love of eating stayed with her for as long as she could communicate. We recall such things as her having a sign on her hospital room that said “NIL BY MOUTH” yet when we visited her, one day she’s asking for hot tea, the next day she’s asking for mangoes, the next day she wants ice-cream and just before her passing, she was asking for bakes.

My mom loved eating so much, that she would admit on our family chats, that when my sisters Judy and Yvette (La-Lu as we call her) told her that she couldn’t have any more of a particular food because of her high blood pressure and diabetes, my mom would say, “I don’t argue with them. I just wait until they’re asleep and I go to the kitchen and get what I want for myself. When they get up the next morning, they have to wonder if a two-legged rat took the food.”

We were never a rich family, but one thing we as her family can say is that we never lacked for food. My mother always made sure that we had enough to eat even if she had to take the groceries on credit. We did not have a lot of clothes, but we sure had a lot of food. So much so that my mother is known throughout the neighborhood as being a caring person who fed anyone that came into her home. And the door to her house was always open (literally).

I could go on and on with memories such as these but you’re probably bored by now.

Ilene was the mother of 7 children (5 girls and 2 boys). There’s Evadney Sandiford of Queens, NY, the late Vera Rosita Forde of Barbados, George Thompson of Barbados, Delores Mattick (that’s me) of Queens, NY, Yvette Mattick of Boston, MA, the late Patrick Mattick of Barbados and Judy Selman of Boston MA.

She was the proud grandmother of Sonia Brathwaite of Queens, NY, Juleen Sandiford-Pierson of Plantation, FL, Carol Ann Sobers of PA, Nicole Sobers of TX, Gail Ann Sobers of NJ, Lindell, Danielle Christina and Joshua Thompson of Barbados, and Rasheed Selman of Boston, Ma.

Her great-grands are Alexandrya Brathwaite, Anastasia Molina, Madeline Vega, Khalil Cole, Amir Davis, Brianna Thompson-Barnett, Josiah, Faith and Gabriel Thompson-Griffin.

Mother-in-Law of Ronald Sandiford, Colin Forde, Peggy Thompson, and Stevenson Selman.

Grandmother-in-Law of Vicki Brathwaite and Ralph Pierson.

Special friend of Audrey Smith.

Lovingly remembered by the Free Hill community which includes the Williams, Martin, Harewood and Cumberbatch families and many, many more across Barbados and the US.

We will always love you mom, rest in peace.

Viewing will be held on Saturday February 5th 10-11 AM in Wesley United Methodist Church, 1076 Washington Street, Dorchester. Funeral Service will follow at 11 AM. Interment in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Boston.