One bright sunny Thursday morning in Port of
Spain, Trinidad, James (“Hoyie”) and Jane
(“Marts”) Ahwai happily welcomed their second
born child whom they proudly called Paula Amanda,
known to many as Amanda and Mandy to the family. Although Mandy was three years younger than
her sister Mystie, she was always in step with her
and never missed a beat.
Mandy attended St Paul’s and St. Joseph’s Convent
Junior School and later graduated from St Joseph’s
Convent High School in Port of Spain. After graduating from school Mandy worked for a short time
teaching at St Joseph’s Convent High School at the
campus in St Joseph and then joined the Royal Bank
of Canada team in Trinidad. There she worked and
made many friends until she decided to further her
education and moved to Washington DC to join her
sister. Mandy attended Montgomery College and
upon completion started studies at Howard University. However, as the rest of the family was moving to
Canada when she began studies at Howard University Mandy decided to migrate to Canada to be closer
to the family and there she completed her studies in
Hospitality Management at Concordia University in
Montreal. As opportunities were increasing in Toronto, Mandy moved to Toronto in the late eighties
and except for a short stint where she moved back to
Trinidad, Toronto became her home.
Mandy really enjoyed entertaining and cooking even
from a young age; hospitality was her calling and
she worked in the industry in the earlier years both as
line staff and on the management team at Club Bali-Hi
and Joe’s Steak House in Montreal, Chaconia Inn and
Texas Style in Trinidad and Druxy’s Deli and Phipps
Desserts in Toronto.
As part of her hospitality management training Mandy
was also trained on the management side in many administrative duties. She used these skillsets to further
her career when jobs were not readily available in the
hospitality industry. Mandy was always keen on working in positions that gave her direct access to the public as entertaining and interacting with people was
what she enjoyed best. In Montreal she worked at International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and
Tilden Rent-a-Car. In the Toronto region she worked
at Robert Half of Canada, Thales Rail Signalling Solutions and United Synagogue Day School where she
enjoyed interacting with the kids.
The greatest joy of her life came in 1992 when Mandy
welcomed her son Dion into the world. Dion was her
world and she was very proud to see what a charming
young man he became and never missed an opportunity to tell everyone how well he was doing and share
photos of all his activities.
After maternity leave Mandy wanted to dedicate her
career working in jobs that gave her greater fulfillment
in caring for people. At the same time her spiritual life
deepened and she began to get more actively involved
in the church and its ministries. When the opportunity
arose in 2001 to work at the Sleep Disorder Clinic
Mandy did not hesitate to take the position and in 2016
was very excited to join the Canadian chapter of the
Save the Children foundation where she worked until
her passing.
Even though her daily job functions were now administrative,
Mandy never lost her joy for entertaining and cooking. She was
always cooking and baking for her colleagues wherever she
worked and always eager to host family functions on holidays,
birthdays and any occasion she could find to get the family together in Toronto. She became very active in the Good Shepherd ministry that provides food and shelter for the homeless and lovingly
cooked meals weekly for the shelter.
As Mandy’s spiritual life strengthened, she became more active in
the church and attended Mass daily. She joined The Legion of
Mary both at the local and National Council level. Her patron saint
became St. Padre Pio and she had many pictures of him and prayers asking him to intercede with God on her behalf.
Mandy, being the eldest when our dearly beloved sister Mystie passed in 2007, began to take charge. She always had words of advice to offer everyone and tried to stay active in the lives of everyone. She never missed
sending greetings, birthday cards, flowers to everyone in the family, all our aunts, uncles, cousins and lifelong
friends. She also extended the same kindness in thought and actions to her immediate circle of friends.
Mandy will always be remembered for her unbounded generosity. She will be truly missed by all who knew
her and we thank God for her life and having the opportunity to share in it. Her golden heart has now stopped
beating, her hard-working hands are now at rest. While we do not understand why, we believe God wanted one
of His best.
Mandy will be sadly missed by her son Dion, siblings Raquel, Marisa, Shane, Stacie and Leigh, brothers-in-law Mansoor Mohammed, Paul Morgan, Courtney Chang, sisters-in-law Karyn Ahwai, Ilkay Kucuk, nephews Kieron Ahwai-Mohammed, Jonathan Morgan (Jeanique), Nicholas, Jeremy, Anthony and Ethan Ahwai-Chang, Yunus and Eren Ahwai, nieces Karena Ahwai-Mohammed (Greg) , Maya Brown (Kevin-Isaac), Ayan-na Morgan, grandnieces Micah Morgan, Audrey-Joy and Alexandra Brown, uncle Gregory Rigsby and aunts
Marie Rita (“Marita”) Francois, Ynolde, Joyce, Barbara (“Babs”) Rigsby. Other relatives include The Rigsby
families, The Ahwai family in England, The Ahwai family in Trinidad, The Garcia families, The Ellis families,
The Francois family, The Joseph families and The Armorers. Special friends include David Pantin, Roxanne
Chow-Quan, Christine Cockburn, Patricia Farouk, Gita Patel, Precilla George-D’Souza, Inga Lawson, Jenny
Ong, Marcelle & Noi Quao, Kay Dash-Radivojevic, The Jones family, The Lees family, The Als family, Lennox Dee and family, Sabeha Khan and family and Ann Minors and family.
May Mandy’s soul rest in peace and rise in eternal glory.