Mama's boy

Commissioner-designate's mother pleased, says promotion only the beginning for son

Mark Titus, Staff Reporter

Lynette 'Mama Lyn' Williams, the 83-year-old mother of Police Commissioner-designate Carl Williams, has only one wish, and it is that her late husband, Arnold, was still alive to see his son become the nation's chief crime fighter.

William's appointment was announced on Monday by National Security Minister Peter Bunting and is to take effect on September 15.

"He called after Minister Bunting made the announcement and we spoke about it (appointment). I told him that I am proud of him, and all I can say is 'Thank you, Lord'," said Mama Lyn yesterday, "... but I also told him that this not the end; it is just the beginning."

Carl Williams is the fourth of eight children (six boys and two girls) for Mama Lyn and her late husband, who died in 2006, a loss that the commissioner-designate still speaks of occasionally.

"We are a close-knit family, but Carl was my husband's eyeball. They were very close. This would have been a very proud moment for him," Mama Lyn told The Gleaner.

The new commissioner began showing academic brilliance from age two and, with education a priority for the Williams family, Mama Lyn began selling lunch to the schoolteachers and fritters to students and community members so she could afford to school her children.

"Carl had a special shirt we call the Q shirt, which had letters of the alphabet in it and, from the first time we told him what they were, he knew them

and when adults would be amazed at his brilliance, he would say,'Mi born for purpose'," his mother said.

The commissioner-designate attended the Wait-A-Bit All-Age School, but left for Edwin Allen High School in Frankfield, Clarendon, where he consistently performed at a high level. However, with growing financial pressure on his parents, he decided to do his tertiary studies part-time, and seek a job to help with his younger siblings.

"I had two going to Knox (College), so he decided to follow one of his older brothers and become a police to help out. I did not have a problem because I place my children before the Lord each day," Mama Lyn recalled.

Church attendance was a must and all the siblings were wise not to rebel against Mama Lyn's instructions.

Older sister Patricia recalled that her brother was a member of the church's choir, and also served as an altar boy.

The Williamses' well-kept home does not reflect the hard times experienced by Mama Lyn and her late husband in rearing their children, and the many photographs on the wall, signifying special milestones, will soon have another with the altar boy from Wait-A-Bit, who will become Jamaica's 28th police commissioner.