Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/4696/-1/140/
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Beloved Teacher, Pastor Laid To Rest
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The Service of Thanksgiving celebrating the life of Joseph Maxwell Webster at the Mount Fortune Seventh-day Adventist Church on May 6 had four features among the large crowd in attendance.
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Mr. Ronald Webster comforting members of the family
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The first feature was the many past students whom he taught at the old East End School for twenty-one years. They were there recalling the admirable teaching skills, love and fatherly care he demonstrated in the classroom. The second was the throng of older persons of his generation who came to say farewell for his sojourn among them; the third feature comprised the large number of close-knit members of his immediate and extended families whom he showed leadership and example of the finest order; and the fourth feature had to do with his ministerial colleagues who came from the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists to officiate at the service.
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Family members in song
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It was in this setting that a number of glowing tributes were paid to him before and during the service for his exemplary life and work. His son, Keith, captured much of his father’s fine personality when, in the formal words of remembrance, he said: “Daddy was known for his soft, kind and gentle spoken words. He was humble, thoughtful and had much integrity and his was a life of prayer and commitment.”
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The Church choir rendering tribute
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The officiating Ministers were Pastors Danny Phillip, Desmond James, John Josiah, Oriel Fleming and Hesketh Matthew. “I must confess that today I am deeply honoured to be allowed to share in this capacity in the service for God’s gift to us in the life and ministry of Pastor Maxwell Webster.” These were the opening words in the sermon by Pastor Matthew whom the departed Teacher/Pastor Webster taught at the Seventh-day Adventist School in St. Croix and later tutored and supervised as a ministerial intern at the Philadelphia Church in St. Thomas.
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His final journey
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“Etched in mind is his very congenial and amiable personality and his fatherly disposition,” Pastor Matthew went on. “I was only 22 then and had very little resources and so his books became my library. I couldn’t afford car and his became my means of transportation. I recall very vividly my first evangelistic campaign after which three precious souls were baptised. I must confess that I had greater anticipation; but Pastor Webster smiled and said: “Well, one for the Father, one for the Son and one for the Holy Spirit.”
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The late Pastor Maxwell Webster
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During his teaching career in Anguilla, “Teacher max”, as he was affectionately called,
was trained at the Antigua Teacher Training College in Antigua. He left Anguilla in 1967 for St. Lucia where he was appointed Principal of the Seventh-day Adventist Elementary School in Castries. He began his ministerial studies at the Caribbean Union College in 1970; completed his Bachelor’s degree in Theology in 1974 and received his Master’s degree in 1978. He served in Antigua, Montserrat, Tortola, St. Croix and St. Thomas. He retired in 1995.
He resided in St. Croix until March 2006 after which he moved to Maryland, United States, to seek medical attention and remained there until March 2007. He returned to Anguilla for the100th birthday of his mother, Melvina Webster, which was celebrated on March 25. His own 76th birthday was on April 9. He died eight days later.
Following the Thanksgiving Service he was laid to rest at the Sandy Hill Cemetery. His family has expressed special thanks to Dr. Rona Hodge, his physician in Anguilla; many other persons for their words of comfort and cards and to Rey’s Funeral Home.