LEILA FAY GREENE

Leila Fay Crarey Greene was born on September 9, 1933, in Kingston, Jamaica; the tenth child of Hilda Agatha Sutherland Crarey and Robert Nathaniel Crarey. Fay was born and raised a Seventh-day Adventist. Her first recollections of being in church were at North Street SDA church and later Kencot Church. From kindergarten through high school, she attended Merl Grove High School in Kingston. After high school she went on to West Indies College (now Northern Caribbean University) where she completed the two-year secretarial course and met her future husband. In 1986, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from Atlantic Union College through their Adult Degree Program.

Fay married Arlington R. Greene in 1955 in a small family ceremony at Hope Gardens, Kingston, Jamaica. Their marriage produced five children-Garth (Renee); Michelle Schouburgh (Neville); Kevin (Diane); Darren (Jeannette); and Curt (Janice). Many years later they were blessed by the addition of another daughter, Annette Bennie (Edgar). Their union eventually would produce ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. However, many others would claim them as parents and grandparents because the door to their home was always open.

After getting married, Fay and Arlie began their 40-year service to the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. Fay would work as a department secretary in several of the conferences in Jamaica, while Arlington worked in the treasury department. Montego Bay was their last home in Jamaica before they received a call to help build up the Bahamian Mission in Nassau. And so, in 1964, they packed up their then family of five and relocated. Mrs. Greene would again work as a department secretary while Elder Greene became the treasurer. In the Bahamas, they welcomed two more children, Darren, and Curt to the family.

Three years later, they received a call from the Northeastern Conference of Seventh-day Adventist in New York, which they accepted. They arrived in New York April of 1968 and continued their work for the denomination. Sister Greene would spend 27 years working for Northeastern conference in a variety of departments and as the school secretary and bookkeeper at Northeastern Academy.

In New York she and her family became active members of the Jamaica SDA Church in Queens. While there, she served as Sabbath School teacher, superintendent, choir member, choir director and finally church clerk. Sister Greene would repeat those roles at all of the churches they would later attend, including South Ozone Park SDA Church in Queens, New York and finally Palm Bay, SDA Church in Palm Bay, Florida. Even with all those responsibilities, she made sure that her children were all dressed and ready on time for church every single sabbath.

Fay was a lover of words and an original spoken word artist. She performed at church socials and as an active member of the West Indies College Alumni Association, at many of their events. It wasn’t a party until she recited a poem, often in Jamaican patois. She also loved music and along with singing in choirs, she often sang in a variety of smaller groups lending them her beautiful alto voice. She loved crafting of every kind and was a seamstress like her mother. She enjoyed rearranging the furniture and changing the curtains in her home, every season. Crossword and table puzzles were a constant in her life especially after retirement. Surrounding herself with photographs of her family was important to her. But most of all she loved having a house full of the people in those pictures. Mrs. Greene and her husband retired in 1995 and moved to Palm Bay, Florida where they could be closer to their family.

So, “Let not your heart be troubled: You believe in God; believe also in me. In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” John 14:1-4

Leila Fay Crarey Greene leaves to mourn; her husband, Arlington; her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, surviving sisters, Joyce, and Pat; two surviving sister-in-laws, Verna (Roy) and Veronica (Carlos); along with a myriad of nieces, nephews, great-nieces and nephews, cousins, God children, friends, and church family.

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