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LOVER DIES, MANY MOURN

Wayne Archibald - Yolande Gyles

EVERYBODY WHO KNEW Wayne 'Lenky' Archibald said the only flaw he had was that he loved women. Ultimately, that was what cost him his life.

On February 21, the 33-year-old Archibald, visited the Canaan Heights, Clarendon home of one of his girlfriends. There, he was allegedly pounced on by her jealous boyfriend, who shot him several times all over the body. His body was found the next day under a bed inside the house.

His alleged assailant, Eric 'Acid' Daley, 27, was held by the police a week later and was subsequently charged with his murder. The 'Delilah' in this situation, a 16-year-old girl, is now in police protective custody.

Archibald was very popular, so much so, that his funeral is said to have created history in Chapleton. Residents said it was the biggest funeral that ever took place in the community.

His mother, Joan Archibald, told THE WEEKEND STAR, "I never know my son had so much friends, people from all over, the 14 parishes of Jamaica came to his funeral."

Those who were old enough to remember told THE WEEKEND STAR that his funeral was at least two times larger than the 1967 remembrance service for Sir Donald Sangster - Jamaica's second Prime Minister.

On March 13, the day before the funeral, Chapleton was filled with cars. "Traffic blocking me a tell you. Nutten couldn't move inna di place. Traffic jam. Bus driver all a tell people seh if dem did haffi go a town, dem haffi walk!," said one resident.

The May Pen Seventh Day Adventist Church where the funeral service was held, was unable to accommodate all the mourners. Mrs. Archibald estimates that at least 3,000 persons turned out for the event.

Then there were reports that a fight broke out at the funeral over the programmes. Mrs. Archibald explained that the programmes were hot commodities "because they had pictures of Lenky in it."

However, for all of those who were present, one of the most moving moments of the day came when the pall bearers were carrying the coffin. "The handles of the coffin were not touched. People wanted to carry the coffin and they held it in the palms of their hands," Mrs. Archibald told THE WEEKEND STAR. When Archibald's body was interred at the Chapleton Cemetery, he was entombed with copies of his favourite newspapers - THE GLEANER and THE STAR. His coffin was encased in a bus, the thing he loved to drive and drove for a living.

When THE WEEKEND STAR team visited the grave, the wreaths that were placed at his graveside were still there - untouched.

Archibald's murder shocked residents of Chapleton, where he grew up, and May Pen, where he was a bus driver.

"Even now, it come een like him nuh dead. It cyaan come to me yet man. Every day mi si 'Auditor' (the bus he drove), mi ah expect fi si him a drive it," said a bus driver on the May Pen to Kingston route.

His murder was especially shocking to his family. Mrs. Archibald said she never thought that he would have died in such a manner. "Because him was a bus driver, and him used to drive fast, I always fret that he would have been killed in an accident, or that one day dem woulda hold him up and tek whe di bus and kill him. But not like this. Not so."

To all who knew and came in contact with Archibald, he was an unforgettable person. Sharon, a regular passenger of Archibald described him as being a good person. "It was always a pleasure to drive with him. He was mannersable, respectful and a loving person. He was a good guy," she said.

Mrs. Archibald, described him as being "a loving and good son, a good brother and a good father."

One of the things that impressed Mrs. Archibald was the manner in which he cared for his older retarded brother, Patrick.

"Patrick cannot walk and he cannot talk, or hear, but he used to bathe him and take him to church. And Patrick loved him, he was his favourite brother," said Mrs. Archibald.

She was also impressed by how he handled his personal affairs. "Him have three children with three baby mothers and he got along fine with all of them and they got along with each other well too," said Mrs. Archibald.

"My son never own a house, him never own a car, him never own land, but he was given a hero's burial, treated like a big rich man," that is the little consolation Mrs. Archibald takes from his murder.