Secondary school teacher dies in car crash, leaves granny to raise two

A 43-year-old single mother of two, the country’s latest road fatality victim, was on her way to pick up her older son from his aunt’s house in Speightstown, St Peter when death came.

According to police reports, on Tuesday at about 3:30 pm, Tara Blackman, a teacher at the Darryl Jordan Secondary School, was travelling along KNR Husbands Highway, at its junction with Chapel Street, Speightstown, St Peter, when her vehicle crashed into a utility pole. She died at the scene.

Her younger son, four-year-old Kaleb, who was also in the vehicle, was unharmed.

When Barbados TODAY visited the Rock Dundo, Cave Hill, St Michael residence where Blackman lived with her two sons and her 82-year-old mother, Shirley, the elderly woman, though welcoming, was distraught.

“Unless you’ve lost an only child you could only know how I am feeling right now,” were the sombre words that managed to escape her lips.

Sharing the moments which led to her discovering her daughter’s demise, Shirley said: “I was here and I keep getting messages that she had an accident and if I could come.

“Now I old but I not stupid. I said to myself, if somebody in an accident, why not tell me meet them at the hospital because why would I need to come to all the way to Speightstown?”

Shirley Blackman is comforted by neighbour Tony Harewood, as she mourns the loss of her daughter.

She noted that she kept asking if her daughter was hurt badly and the answers remained the same: “No, but come and see.”

“When they said that, I just know,” Shirley said, her voice trailing off.

Crippled by the unconfirmed and heavily weighed down by the gut feeling common to the testimonies of grieving mothers, the elderly woman, with the help of a caring neighbour, journeyed to the north.

“When I heard that she was dead and that my grandson was in the vehicle with her when it crash, I thought it was both of them. I started freaking out,” she recalled.

While reports were that Tara was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, her mother is convinced that a heart attack was the thief that claimed her daughter’s life.

“I was told that the doctor who checked her at the scene said the accident isn’t big enough to kill somebody so we are going to get an autopsy to find out exactly why she died,” she said. “I didn’t want to cut her but we want to be sure what happened.”

Shirley told Barbados TODAY that Tara had, some time ago, won the battle against cancer, an ailment they both were fighting together.

She noted that her daughter was recently diagnosed with diabetes and that she was treating atrial fibrillation, which is abnormally rapid heartbeats, a condition she believes was caused by previous chemotherapy treatments.

“We had [cancer] the same time and got through but she develop heart problems from chemotherapy,” Shirley said.

Clutching a brown paper bag of pills, the grieving woman added: “She went to the doctor on Friday and I bring back a whole set of medicine that the doctor prescribed . . . . So it seems something happened in that moment.” 

Coupled with the emotional challenge of having to bury her only child, Shirley is now left with the task of being the guardian for her two grandsons.

“The sixth of December, I became 82 years old. To raise two boys now is going to be tough,” she said, adding that the older Kyle, 14, helps.

“This morning, he got up, made breakfast and tea and all that. I’m grateful for my grandsons and I’m so happy that at least the little one wasn’t hurt.”

When asked about the next steps regarding the boys, she declared: “I am going to care for my grandchildren. They not leaving here…. Nobody don’t bother to beg me for them because I’m ain’t giving them to nobody. The doctor going to have to tell me, ‘Well, Miss Blackman, you’ve got a couple weeks left’ before nothing so.

“The feet are bad because of the arthritis but I’m glad that my mental faculties are there and Kyle is big enough to help his little brother and he is big enough to help himself.”

Shirley further hailed the support of neighbours and other family members who she said have been rallying around to help, including Tony Harewood, who remembers Tara as a “very caring and loving person”.

“She liked people more than herself,” he said. “All up to now that still hurting my heart. She’s too nice to go that way, man. All now I still shake up, especially when I think about those two children.”

Offering his support, Harewood added: “Whatever they need I just short round the corner there.”

Expressing condolences on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Chief Education Officer Ramona Archer-Bradshaw said grief counselling will be provided to students and staff at Darryl Jordan Secondary. 

shannamoore@barbadostoday.bb