Rebecca Atkinson

Rebecca was born Rebecca Rachel Fatal on Sept 3rd, 1942 in Choiseul on the beautiful island of St. Lucia to Antoine and Gladys. From the beginning, she was a very happy child with a love for family. Her resolve and determined character was formed in the very earliest years of her life, as she had to deal with the loss of her mother at the vulnerable age of 9 for a girl. Vitalienne Wilson (aka Daa) became Rebecca’s guardian and helped to shape the woman she would become.

Rebecca always wanted more for her family, and it is this determined spirit that drove so many of the decisions in her life. It led her to leave the paradise and safety of St. Lucia, her first-born son Evarius Fatal, and her friends to start a life in England. It was in London that Rebecca met and married Virgil Edward. Together, they had four children: John, Margaret Angela, Sandra and Janice. Life took them from London to the United States, where they first took up residence in New York, living in Fort Green, Brooklyn. Rebecca found work in the medical field, starting in house keeping and eventually working her way to become a Unit Secretary at New Rochelle Hospital Medical Center, where she stayed for 32 years.

Life’s turns and challenges were always faced with a smile and Rebecca’s determined spirit. In 1971, Rebecca left her three daughters in the care of her extended family, Marie Thomas (aka Marcell), as she continued to find ways to create a better life for them and for herself. Even as her first marriage ended, Rebecca had a plan. She ventured again on her own and moved from Brooklyn to Mt. Vernon, NY, and a few years later met Uriah Atkinson, who she wed on October 20th, 1976. The joy of this union was made even richer as it came with two more children from a previous marriage, Cheron and Sheldon, and then they added to the family when her last child Clifton was born.

Rebecca was a devoted Catholic, and deeply convicted in her beliefs. She raised her children in the Catholic school system and made church a regular part of their lives. Her faith and that determined spirit helped her again, as she had to face the tragic circumstances of the death of her second husband on August 14th, 1987. Rebecca never remarried, and devoted the rest of her life to her family. Her children have always been her pride and her joy. She has seen her family grow through marriages, and the addition of numerous grandchildren. While no one child was more important to her than any other, she always had a special bond with her third granddaughter who bears her first name, Rebecca Ashlee.

Rebecca was never defeated in life and in the face of Cancer and Alzheimer’s she remained determined. This determined woman, loving mother, grandmother and caring friend waited and said her goodbyes in her own way before passing on May 15th, 2015. Rebecca leaves behind a legacy of love, warmth and strength.

Devine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying, that we are born to eternal life.