Carol Thurston, the mother of college student Keisha Thurston, shares memories of her star student-athlete daughter, with father Michael Thurston.

Published On:Saturday, March 20, 2010

NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

IT'S the worst kind of suffering any mother can endure, the sudden death of a child.

But put yourself in Carol Thurston's shoes and imagine her pain and agony after returning home to find her beloved daughter dead.

Keisha Alicia Thurston was found hanged on February 28 at the home she shared with her family. Police, who are investigating the incident, have described her death as an "apparent suicide".

Mrs Thurston expected to return home to a house perfumed with the smell of frying fish. Keisha had volunteered to cook Sunday dinner just hours before her death. She had taken out the fish fillets from the freezer to thaw, opting against pork chops, and put the deep fryer on the stove to heat up. Before talk turned to the dinner table, Keisha and her mother had a three-way conversation with her sister Kimberly. They joked about Keisha breaking curfew the night before, having gone out partying with two junior school girlfriends on West Bay Street at Uptown.

Earlier still, Keisha plotted against her mother to steal a pair of pants, a jacket and a dress thought to be too 'young-looking', or stylish, for her mother alone to be entitled to wear.

"She said, 'Mummy, this is a young girl pants. I will be wearing the pants to school tomorrow. When I go to teaching practice I could wear that dress'," said Mrs Thurston, speaking about one of the last conversations with her daughter.

"When I came back and my child was there it was like what happened. I left this sprightly child trying on my clothes, full of laughter. What happened to her?" she said, sitting next to her husband, Michael Thurston, on the family couch.

Sadly, the only smell greeting Mrs Thurston was burning metal; not one piece of fish even reached the frying pan. Something went deadly wrong for her baby girl. Mrs Thurston was the first to find Keisha's body.

The two shared a close relationship, along with the rest of the family. One of Keisha's favourite refrains was: "Don't do it mummy, please".

Mrs Thurston was often chastised by her other daughters, Kimberly and Deandra, for calling them by Keisha's name. They would remark how she would have to call her three children's' names before she got it right.

"(Keisha) is a child that likes to keep busy. Even when she is home she gets up every morning to clean up. All the things I will miss. Me and her going on the beach, Bahamian Idol, playing tennis," said Mrs Thurston.

These days, the house does not feel the same, but Keisha's bedroom has been of comfort to her mother. It provides a place for Mrs Thurston to rest her head at nights: to sleep close to her daughter's spirit.

"There is a lesson to us that regardless of the situation you still have to be strong. That is our lesson. Regardless of what it is you have to be strong. As for me, it is not a good feeling that I came home and saw my daughter hanging from the attic, but I have two other kids and I have a grand child on the way," said Mrs Thurston.

"I have my family, who are very supportive of me. They flew in from wherever they were and they came to support us. That even made the family closer. As for me, we can't change that it has already happened, but we just have to be strong like I said, and be there for each other, as we normally do," she said.

Although people are often remembered for the mistakes they make and not the good things they do, the family of Keisha does not plan to perpetuate that trend. "People talk and people will talk. You or I cannot change that. This is the way the Bahamas is. If you make one bad mistake in your life and if you do a thousands of good, people do not see the good you do. The bad overrides the good," said Mrs Thurston.

"Out there who knows me and my kids, my daughter, they know that my child was loved from the very moment she was conceived. As a family what we have to do is keep the bond we have and not let anyone come in between us. By people talking it could change things in the family and cause confusion, but we are not planning for that to happen. It will strengthen and tighten our family," said Mrs Thurston.

While the rumor mills are busy looking for suicidal signs and reasons why, the family is busy remembering the Keisha they knew. This Keisha kept a personal calendar with the birthday dates of all the family members. She would remind her mother when her father's birthday was coming up, or remind her sister when her cousin's birthday was approaching. The Keisha they knew was a role model student-athlete. Throughout her high school career she was an award winner.

At HO Nash Junior School she received coaches awards and most valuable player (MVP) awards. At Red Bank Middle School in New Jersey she received certificates for academic excellence. At CC Sweeting High School she made the honour roll and received MVP awards in the volleyball, soccer, track and field, and softball. She was on academic scholarship at the College of the Bahamas.

The everyday Keisha the family knew left a big void to fill, but for the time being, her memories are doing the trick. She is remembered for wanting to become a secondary school Math teacher. She is remembered for her ambition to play tennis and golf; for her success at volleyball, softball and love of soccer. "How can you not miss a person like that. Regardless of everything that happened I said to my sister, she only lived 18 years and so many people could talk so many positive things about her. There were hundreds of people were at the funeral. Could you imagine with another 18 years what her life would have been like," said Mrs Thurston.