Claudette V. "Cherry" Williams

"It's so much darker when a light goes out than it would have been if it had never shone." ~ John Steinbeck
Claudette Vanesta Forbes, lovingly known as "Cherry," made her debut into this world on July 9, 1940, in Kingston, Jamaica. The bottoms of her feet were so red that her mother, Stephanie Isabel Wright, gave her the nickname. Claudette was her mother's second child. Her older sister, Joyce, died from an illness as a child. Claudette's younger brother, Winston James, Sr. (Dorette), passed away in 2024, and her younger sister, Jeanetta Davis (Oscar), passed away in 2020.
After completing Secondary School (equivalent to high school in the U.S.), she worked in a candy factory and attended cooking school in Jamaica, but longed for a life outside her home country. She became a single mother to her oldest two children, Cynthia Ferrer-Lewis (née Lee) and Paul Anthony Lee (deceased), by the time she was 19. Claudette moved to Freeport, Bahamas, for nine months. When she left Freeport, she returned to Jamaica for a short time before heading to America. While in America, she met a wonderful woman who sponsored her so she could become a citizen. During a visit home back to Jamaica, she met, fell in love with, and married Herman McClaren Williams, a bus driver in Kingston.
She wanted to make a better life for her mother, husband, and two children. Claudette cleaned houses for a few wealthy families and took classes at Pace College (now Pace University). She was able to send for her husband, and together they established residence in Brooklyn, New York, and had her two youngest children, David Vernon Williams and Stephanie Nicole Outten (née Williams).
She eventually landed a job at Banker's Trust in Manhattan, where she worked for many years. Claudette found herself a single parent again when she and Herman divorced. By then, she was doing well enough to send for her mother and her oldest children to live with her in Brooklyn.
In 1987, she tried love and marriage again with her long-time partner, David Blackwood; she retired from the banking industry after 25 years, and relocated with her family to Winter Springs, FL, where her oldest daughter, Cynthia, had moved years earlier. Claudette's second marriage also ended in divorce, but she persevered. Claudette had another lengthy career with Hartford Insurance, where she worked as a claims processor for 20 years, retiring in 2008. She also worked part-time as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), providing private in-home care to the elderly.
Claudette loved to sing. She wanted to be an opera singer like Leontyne Price, the first African American soprano singer to receive international acclaim. While she did not fulfill her dream of becoming an opera singer, she spent most of her life singing soprano in the choir at every church she attended. Every year, she looked forward to singing in Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church's Annual Christmas Concert, alongside her best friend, Phylicity Walters, and her sister-in-love, Dorette James. That was always one of the highlights of her life. She also loved bowling, won trophies with her bowling league, and enjoyed traveling with her family and friends.
Claudette collected the Lladro Black Legacy figurines and had amassed a vast collection, which she ultimately gave many away as gifts to others. That's who she was – a giver by nature. She had the biggest heart and loved caring for others, hosting Thanksgiving dinners for her family, baking THE BEST Jamaican Rum Cake (Black Cake), spending time with her family, and singing for the Lord.
On Friday, October 17, 2025, after a 16-year battle with Dementia, she took her last breath at 4:55 pm at home with her children, David and Stephanie, who cared for her in the last eight years of her life. She was deeply loved, valued, respected, and cared for not only by her children but also by her extended family and friends.
Her passing leaves a gaping hole in our hearts. Yet, we are eternally grateful she is now at peace in the arms of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Claudette was preceded in death by her mother, siblings, oldest son, and two nieces. She leaves behind a rich legacy in her children (Cynthia, David, and Stephanie), grandchildren: Joe Ferrer (Minerva), Ashlie Lewis, Dominique Lee, Randy Small, Elizabeth Cole, Jamel Williams, Jamila Williams, Aajela Williams, and Amari Williams, and great grandchildren: Noah Ferrer and Irish Ferrer, along with nieces: Andrea Cleary (George), Beverly Davis, Christine Starchild (Rakem), and nephews: Andrew Davis and Winston James, Jr.