evagabourel

Edward Luis Francis Gabourel, better known as Luis, was born on February 28^th 1966 in Belize City to Edward Richard Gabourel and Josephine Gabourel.  He was the firstborn of their three children together. 

I think Luis lived several different lifetimes in the 57 years he was here with us. As I listened to everyone’s stories while preparing his eulogy I honestly didn’t know how to put it together.  There are so many stories to share. But with all the stories some common things always emerged.  He was always fun-loving, sweet, kind, giving, funny and mischievous. 

One of our dad’s favorite memories of him is one from when he was three years old.  They had just moved to San Ignacio from Belize City so he had never seen a cow before in his little life….as they passed some cows while driving one day, Luis exclaimed “Wow! Look at all those Kitty Cats!”

Luis grew up close to our sister Nora because they were only two years apart in age.  They both grew up with several of our cousins around the same age and there are a lot of wild childhood and teenage stories from that bunch.  Childhood Luis is described as someone very gullible who could easily be tricked or who needed little convincing to take the rap for some mischief they had committed.  Nora recalled a memory where they had gotten a pair of swimming fins from a family member in the United States.  They didn’t know what it was but she had convinced Luis that it was a pair of wings and that it would make him fly.  Luis loved that idea and he even tried to fly from the second story of their house.  They probably both got a beating for that stunt.

As a child and teenager, my dad, siblings and cousins recalled, Luis did what he wanted without much thought of the consequences.  They say nothing bothered him and he always had solutions. My dad said our grandmother would send Luis and our cousin Luther to the shop to buy bun and they would sometimes eat it before they even got home.   Luis and Luther would steal our grandmother’s Yardley powder, roll it and smoke it like cigarettes.  My sister says he skipped graduation from primary school because he didn’t want to wear the shoes he had.  One of my cousins told a wild story of how he and another cousin wanted to get in to Rose Garden but they couldn’t get in because of their age so they got in their car and drove through the gate at full speed then came to a halt and yelled “Immigration!” Boy did that crowd scatter! 

Luis started dating his childhood friend Jean when he was 17 years old.  They eventually migrated to the US in 1984 and had two children together, Johanna and Eddie.  Jean shared that he held several jobs in their time together.  He was a great mechanic but he also had a supervisor job at a resort in Lake Bluff, and he did construction and remodeling at some point too.  Although they did not stay together, Luis loved Jean and his children fiercely…he always bragged about them.  He never met his seven granddaughters and one grandson because he came back to Belize before they were born but he had photos of them and always spoke about hoping to meet them.  And even though he and Jean have been apart for all these years, I found a photo of her in his bag of belongings, which means she was very special to him.  They have known each other since pre-school.

Jean recalled that years 1990 and 1991 was a terrible time for Luis.  In 1990 he was involved in a major traffic accident in Mexico in which he almost lost his life, and 1991 was the year his mom died. 

Before moving back to Belize, Luis also lived in LA.  There he and his partner Annette had a son Donovan, who is here today and his Belize family is meeting for the first time. 

Some of my favorite memories of Luis were from when I was in primary school around the age of probably seven or eight years old.  He would let me and our little sister Geraldine put clips in his hair.  We thought he was the coolest big brother.  I think he lived with us for a while.  And although he wasn’t my mom’s son, she loved him dearly too.  I remember one time she was cooking fish and she made a whole baked fish just for Luis because she knew he had a monster appetite.  Luis didn’t plan on sharing his fish with anyone so before he ate it, I remember him spitting all over it.  I was young so maybe he only pretended to but ….Yes, he was outrageous!

I remember too that Luis was the absolute best big brother to our brother Edward.  He was always patient with him, and loved spending time with him. My brother loved him so much that even when Luis moved away to the states he never stopped asking about him.  

After Luis’ lifetime in the States, he moved back to Belize permanently around 2008 where he started off doing mechanic work along with our brother Rene and then with our Uncle Joe. He also worked at a resort in Hopkins and did other small jobs.  During his last few troubled years he battled a lot of personal demons and he lived a life we did not understand.  But we supported him the best we could, in any way we could.  He had his problems but still he remained a kind, funny, loving son, brother, cousin and friend.  He didn’t have the finances to be generous, yet somehow he still was.  When he stayed with family he repaid our hospitality by cleaning and cooking…we all have stories about how Luis could clean a house as if he was in the Hotel Industry or something. He also knew his way around a kitchen.  Our cousin Sandra recalled that being around Luis never made you sad.  He always had stories to tell or he was always being a good host.  Just last month while he was staying at my dad, she visited and he was treating her and her friend like royalty. He waited on them bringing them drinks and treating them to our father’s food.  This brought back a memory of how generous Luis was even when he had nothing.  One Christmas, a neighbor brought tamales for our dad.  Luis didn’t know who had brought the tamales but he saw an opportunity to be neighborly so unbeknownst to my father, he took tamales to the neighbor and said here my dad sent you these…to which she responded “why are you giving me back my tamales?”

Over the last few days we have heard similar stories of how kind and friendly our brother was and it warms our hearts.  Even though he had very little in these last few years, somehow he still managed to touch people’s hearts with his kindness and personality. 

Our sister Helen was unable be here with us today but she sent a letter for our brother which she wanted me to share and it goes like this:

To Luis, “The Prince”, this is my goodbye to you…

My brother, you had your share of sadness, however there are none of us without faults.  You are and will forever be my big brother.  You were until the end of your time sweet at heart and soul.  You loved BIG and you felt that love back whether it was given back to you or not.  You accepted me for the person I am, without judgment even though I passed a lot of that out to you.  You were the great love of our mother’s life.  Nora and I were also lucky to feel that love, mommy made sure we all knew this.  For whatever reason, maybe because mommy and daddy tried for years to have a child, I like to believe, that when they saw you for the first time your happy loving light took hold.

Lu you were born into the Gabourel, Ramclam, Graham and Wade family, filled with love just waiting for you.

My prayer is that you are now up there with mommy and that Gran di mek u clean up them “Charlie Price” you and Luther drop rocks pan!

My big brother, my friend, I will love you forever. 

Although we say our physical goodbyes today, Luis will always be remembered and missed by his family and friends.

Luis is predeceased by his mother Josephine, and our siblings Geraldine and Edward. He is survived by our father, Dido and a host of siblings and cousins who are like siblings, his children, his grandchildren, aunts, uncles, other relatives and plenty of friends.

Farewell dear brother.