As grieving families and friends gathered over the weekend to lay to rest two of the five young victims of a fatal Shirley Street car collision, one family’s story of hardship, sacrifice and unbreakable sibling devotion has come to light.
Anthony Thompson, the older brother of 22-year-old Bertica Brown, opened up about the decades-long journey that saw him step into the role of both brother and father from his teenage years. When Brown was just two years old, she lost her father, and by the time she turned nine in 2015, the death of their mother left the pair orphaned. Thompson, then a homeless teenager, made the decision to take full guardianship of his little sister, raising her alongside his own wife and two young children in a makeshift shack in Abaco.
“When I received Trica, I was living in a shack,” Thompson shared in an emotional address during Saturday’s service. “But I didn’t let anybody know because I knew God’s journey.” Thompson described the overwhelming uncertainty he felt about raising a young child at such a young age, but threw himself fully into nurturing her growth and ambitions. When Brown developed an interest in throwing events for track and field, Thompson didn’t just support her from the sidelines — he coached her and even founded a local track club to give her space to practice. More than once, he went without meals to ensure his sister had enough to eat, a sacrifice that forced him to grow up far faster than any teenager should have to.
“There were times the brother in me wanted to let her do her own thing,” Thompson recalled. “Then the father in me would stand up and say, ‘No, I’ll give you every opportunity I possibly can.’”
Financial strain marked Brown’s entire childhood: for months at a time, Thompson could not cover the tuition for the private school he enrolled her in, and he dreamed of giving her travel opportunities that would help her secure a spot in college. Even amid these struggles, Brown never turned to rebellion; while she navigated the common growing pains of adolescent identity formation, she remained grounded and driven. Time and again, community sponsors stepped forward to cover her costs, a streak of good fortune Thompson attributes to divine favor.
Brown went on to graduate from Agape Christian School in Abaco, where she stood out as a star athlete in both volleyball and track and field. Before the crash that cut her life short, she had already earned multiple college scholarship offers. On Saturday, hundreds of mourners packed the Church of God Temple for her funeral, many wearing green in her honor, and loud wails of grief echoed through the sanctuary at multiple points during the service. Brown will be laid to rest in Abaco at a future date.
A separate funeral service was held the same weekend for 19-year-old Evalena Johnson, the second of the five crash victims to be honored, at Living Waters Kingdom Ministries. The three other victims — 17-year-old Diamond Stubbs, and 19-year-olds Stania Webb and Keno Gordon — have already been memorialized: a joint funeral was held for Stubbs and Webb on Cat Island last weekend, and Stubbs’ parents traveled to attend Brown’s service Saturday. Most of the eight people traveling in the vehicle the night of the crash had known each other since early childhood, adding another layer of heartbreak to the tragedy for their tight-knit community.
Thompson said he chose to share his family’s story after being moved by Stanley Webb’s tribute to his daughter Stania during the Cat Island service. Across all the services, tributes to Brown focused not on her athletic or academic achievements, but on the warmth of her character. Mourners remembered her as a kind, loving young woman with a generous spirit that made it impossible not to care for her. Bishop Denczil Rolle, who delivered the sermon at Brown’s funeral, recalled how Brown had once approached him directly to ask for university sponsorship. He told the congregation that her combination of frankness and respectful determination stuck with him, a perfect reflection of the drive that shaped her short life.