Parents reflect on ‘fashion police’ Bulgin brothers as they grapple with tragedy

Still reeling from the drowning deaths of their two sons in the United States last month, Reverend Keith Bulgin and his wife, Jacqueline, on Thursday recalled that Tavaris and Tavaughn Bulgin were protective, caring, dependable “fashion police”.

Tavaris, 26, and Tavaughn, 21, died on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard in mid -August after jumping from a bridge near a restaurant at which they had been working for the summer.

Speaking at the Palmers Cross New Testament Church in Clarendon yesterday, Reverend Bulgin said his elder son, Tavaris, made it his duty to ensure that he was well- dressed before church. He recalled that Tavaris would enter his room to examine him and ensure that he was not “mismatched” and that his tie went well with his suit and everything else.

“If he happens to leave before me [to church], he is one of those persons who would have been here to get the system up for online worship and being the Sunday School superintendent, and so on, there are times when he would have left me, but once I get to the office, he is coming into the office to look how I am looking,” Bulgin recalled, adding that if Tavaris did not believe he was properly attired, he would drive him back home to get whatever he thought was appropriate.

The grieving dad said even when he was going on the street, he could not escape the watchful gaze of his son, who would often let him know he could not leave the house looking like that.

STRONG BOND

He noted that his boys – the middle children of four siblings – had a strong bond with sisters Tavanne and Tavania and lived as one. They sang and played together, he said, adding that now that the chain has been broken, it has been hard for them.

“Sometimes in the wee hours of the night, Tavania would be around his room by herself playing her guitar, and when you see all of that happening, you don’t have to ask,” he said.

Reverend Bulgin shared that his sons had big plans for their sisters, especially Tavanne, who is heavily pregnant.

“They would have said to the husband, ‘The child is not yours; it is ours. So you just tek weh yuhself’,” he said, recalling the friendly bantering with their brother-in-law.

UNFULFILLED PROMISE

As for their younger sister, Tavania, they told her that if she was successful in her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams, they would have something special planned for her.

He believes they would have rewarded her as she got eight grade twos and a grade one in the nine subjects she sat.

“I am sure that she had passed the test. She had overcome that challenge. They are not here to fulfil that promise,” he reflected with sadness.

Mrs Bulgin said that she also had a strong bond with her sons, who would always check in and fuss over her when they were not around.

Her last interaction with them was the night before they took the fateful plunge.

As was customary, Tavaughn called the Saturday evening to find out whether she was prepared for church in the morning.

“‘Mommy, mek mi see the dress you wearing to church. Your dress prepared already?’” she recalled him asking. “And I said, ‘I’m a big woman. Don’t bother me’, and he would say, ‘Make sure your dress is ironed. Go and iron it’.”

She also spoke with Tavaris, who called her while taking someone to the airport. He told her that their boss asked him to hurry back.

His last words to her were “Okay, Mommy, I’m going back to work. I will call you later”.

That call never came.

While the family struggles to accept the reality of their passing, Reverend Bulgin said that he knows that his boys will be “coming alive” as he is convinced God is going to turn the tragedy into a global revival.

“I believe that a revival can precede a funeral. I believe that the God I serve is an impossibility specialist, and that is where my faith is. The boys will live, coming back to fulfil purpose,” he said.

cecelia.livingston@gleanerjm.com