I’m thankful he was found

CAROL MATROO

YESTERDAY was her son’s 12th birthday, but it was a sad day for Pete-Ann Bartholomew, because of the news that her husband’s body had been found floating five miles off Cedros.

Chevonne Bartholomew was an employee of Trindive Underwater Services and was inspecting an oil tanker in Chaguaramas when he disappeared on January 29.

Contacted yesterday, his wife said preliminary investigations, based on the decomposition of the internal organs, suggested he may have died the day he disappeared.

The autopsy will be confirmed today after dental records were made available.

Although dealing with her grief, Bartholomew spent some time trying to get a birthday cake for her son, Zion.

After two weeks, Bartholomew said, it was not just closure.

“God said in everything to give Him thanks, and that is what I am thankful for today, that he was found. He was discovered when time was going on and on, and not knowing that would have been a lot worse,” she said.

Zion insisted his mother tell him the truth about his father.

“I said, ‘It looks like Daddy, it appears to be him, but it will be confirmed tomorrow,’ and he was okay. He was surrounded by his cousins and friends. I am happy that he has people around him.”

Bartholomew said she would have to cope with her loss because she had a young family to take care of.

“I have two young children and we would have been married for 14 years in June. Yes, I would grieve. I have cried already. I would miss his laughter most of all,” she said.

Chevonne’s mother Joanna said she still believed her son was alive, if not physically.

“This morning they said it looked like him, then it didn’t. But I have accepted that. I would like to see my son walk in my yard, but I am not seeing that happening. My son may not be alive in this sphere, but he is alive with Jesus, that is what I believe,” she said.