Mrs Adel "Aunt Adel" Mary (Kerr) Johnson

of ten children born to William and Catherine Jane Kerr, but she was the first to

be born in Cuba. William and Catherine were Jamaicans who emigrated to Cuba,

settling there in 1919. By US government records, Adel was born July 16, 1922.

However, that date was her registration date; the registration being the only

official document available to her when she came to America. Her true date of

birth was February 10, 1921, in the sugar-producing village of Preston, on the

largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba.

The Kerr family returned to Jamaica in 1937, Adel with them. While there, she

learned dressmaking and made that her career. In 1940, she gave birth to her

only child, Mercedes (“Sadie”). Four years later, in search of a more favorable

life, she returned to Cuba—a true home to her—while leaving Sadie with her

mother, Catherine.

We are unsure of her line of work in Cuba but, she likely continued with what she

knew in Jamaica: dressmaking; she also worked at the American naval base in

Guantanamo Bay as work was quite plentiful there. It was in Cuba that she met

her future husband, Samuel Johnson, “Uncle Sam” to the family, who she married

years later, in 1966. Uncle Sam worked on a passenger cruise ship, He was a

waiter in what was then the glamor era of international travel; it was an envious

job for blacks. Ships were to that era what jet planes are to ours.

The political environment in Cuba became very unstable as various army generals

vied for control of the country and its wealth. The instability led to a sharp

deterioration of the economy, which set the stage for the Cuban Revolution

launched by Fidel Castro in 1953, and ended in 1959. Cuba had become a very

unattractive place to live, so Adel and Sam decided to leave for America, the new

land of opportunity—but they did not leave together. Uncle Sam left first, just

after the second world war then, in 1951, she joined him in New York.

Her first job was working as a nanny, taking care of the daughter of a Mrs. Lanin.

Aunt Adel however, had higher ambitions. She returned to school to get her GED,

which opened the door to a career in the growing hospital sector in the city. She

soon found work as a nurse’s aide at the Bird S. Coler Hospital, located on

Roosevelt Island, across from Manhattan.

Like many blacks from the Caribbean who settled in New York back then, she

worked a second job while holding down her day job. Many years passed before

they could save enough to realize the American dream of home ownership.

When that time came, they purchased a home in the rapidly developing

community of East Elmhurst, in Queens, New York. They had achieved their goal

of homeownership, a goal that was denied them in Cuba. But, make no mistake, it

was achieved only because of her ambition, drive and determination.

Throughout the 1970’s, their home had become the setting for countless

extended-family Thanksgiving dinners, where all the nieces, nephews, cousins,

second-cousins, grands and friends of the family would gather to enjoy her

absolutely first-rate cooking and Cuban-American hospitality. She loved to

entertain, and those dinners provided the setting for a decade of memories for

those who made the annual pilgrimage to “Aunt Adel’s” each November—even if

they didn’t attend every year.

Some time after his retirement, Uncle Sam became very ill and Aunt Adel retired

to provide for his care. Eventually, he succumbed to his illness, and she remained

at their home until the spirit moved her to leave New York. She left for the more

tropical climate of Florida, initially settling in Orlando with her daughter, Sadie.

Aunt Adel was a fiercely independent woman so, not long after, she moved into

her own apartment in the area. With advancing age, her ability to be “fiercely

independent” declined, at which point she moved into the assisted-living facility

of Madison, in Ocoee (a neighboring town of Orlando), in 2018. She passed away

at her apartment in Madison.

In addition to being a great cook, she was an equally accomplished baker. Her

chocolate cake was second to none, as was her fruit-filled pound cake. She loved

to entertain, and the food never disappointed. She was a die-hard New York Mets

baseball fan—never missed a televised game and, she knew baseball strategy.

Other interests included knitting. She knitted many blankets for many friends and

family members, which she gave as gifts.

While married, she rarely traveled; she mostly stayed home while Uncle Sam was

away at sea. However, that all changed after he died. She took to the seas,

becoming an avid cruiser in the process.

Aunt Adel was a complex person: very discreet, fun loving, yet often quiet, and

yes, fiercely independent. Yet, she was also very kind. She always helped when

she could; it’s just that she couldn’t always help—which was a reality not

everyone was prepared to accept, but that does not change the truth of her

kindness.

Her life was equally complex. Of all the siblings born in Cuba (most were), she

was the only one to return to the island and lay claim to the land of her birth. She

loved to speak Spanish and she spoke it fluently; she cooked a cornucopia of

Hispanic and Caribbean dishes—and did so with great ease and art; and was most

animated in the company of anyone who spoke to her in her native tongue—a

measure of the degree to which she embraced her Cuban identity. All these

things served to set her apart from her siblings for decades—for her siblings were

unmistakably Jamaican. However, she loved them, and they her; which is proved

by the closeness of the relationship she shared with each as they all advanced in

years and wisdom.

With her passing, a wealth of family lore and history have been irretrievably lost.

In her head laid the last links to two generations of Kerr family history. Even in

old age she could still recall the dates of events and names of people as if they

were contemporary. The family has lost a treasure, and she will be missed by

those who are capable of discerning treasure.

On her maternal line, she is survived by Sadie, her daughter; three grandchildren:

Courtney, Denise and Winston; four great-grands: Joy, Joshua, Victoria and

Briyana; and three great-great-grands: Jaidyn, Julianna and Gabriella.

She is also survived by a host of nieces and nephews, those closest to her being:

Jimmy, Vilma, Marie, Marlene, Jeannie, Lisa, Harry, Biggie, Little, Tanya, Albert,

and Michael.

Additionally, she is survived by her sister Daphne Fraser, the last of the original

ten siblings that issued from Catherine and William Kerr. Lastly, her survivors

include all the offspring of her nieces and nephews—too numerous to mention.

Her journey in this life lasted three months shy of a century. May she eternally

rest in peace.