Baptist leader laid to rest

CHEQUANA WHEELER

SPIRITUAL Shouter Baptist Archbishop Ivan Nicholas Lancaster lived a life full of joy, trials and tribulations, according to relatives and friends at his funeral on Monday.

The leader of the West Indian United Spiritual Baptist Scared Order Inc (WIUSBSO) died at the age of 92 on June 8.

Mourners including those in the Spiritual Baptist family from TT and other countries gathered at Palms Club at Point-a-Pierre Road, San Fernando, for the funeral.

His eldest daughter Nicole shared fond memories of Lancaster during the eulogy saying as a young boy growing up in Avocat, he was always full of joy.

He attended church regularly and became an acolyte. One day during a church service in Spanish by a priest, Nicole recalled, her father did not understand what was taking place and asked his mother for clarification, since she understood Spanish.

The next thing he remembered was a dizzy feeling due to a slap from his mother. She scolded him for being “disrespectful” and warned he should not be questioning the priest. Nicole told mourners of times when he outsmarted his friends of their bananas which they hid.

Not only did he eat his friends’ bananas, but he acted like nothing happened while he enjoyed his own. People from different Baptist churches and organisations including some from Barbados and Grenada attended the funeral.

San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello in expressing condolences said Lancaster had an impact on the landscape of TT. The mayor referred to him as a “patriarch and leader.”