LOLITA CALLENDER is still trying to come to grips with the apparent death of her son, 26-year-old Simeon Callender.
Last Saturday, Simeon fell overboard the pleasure boat MC Buccaneer and has yet to be found.
During an interview at her Barbarees Hill, St Michael home yesterday, Callender expressed concern that her son was not saved.
“He had a lot of friends but not one could save him. I wish someone had tried to save him,” she said.
Callender described the self-employed general worker as someone who liked to party and drink alcohol, sometimes to her displeasure.
She said he liked to watch sports but did not play any himself as he was born with a hole in his heart.
“I remember when I had to run to the hospital every week. He used to be in there more than out, but since he turned 17 I didn’t have to take him back although I still used to check on him often,” she said.
Callender, fighting back tears, recalled the last day she saw her son alive.
“I saw him Friday morning after he came home and changed, then went ’long. Later, I saw him by his brother in Chapman Lane helping him put drinks in a car,” she said.
That evening she heard from her sister Maureen Callender that a group of guys were going for a cruise and her son was among them. She thought nothing of it at the time and went to bed that night.
“I heard someone calling me, but I felt I was dreaming at first because when I got up, I saw no one. I asked if somebody was calling me; then I heard my sister’s granddaughter outside,” she said.
This was when she heard the news that “Charlie”, as her son was known, had fallen into the sea and was feared drowned. Callender said she immediately headed back to Chapman Lane, where she waited for more news. She is still waiting.
“I’m just holding up by the grace of the Father; He will keep me. I’m also getting support from my family and fiancé. I’m just hoping and praying the Lord brings him home to me [dead or alive],” she said.
Simeon was the father of a one-year-old son and an expectant father of another child. He leaves behind three brothers and a sister.
