By Miranda La Rose
The poignant yet inspirational novella “Until We Meet Again” on the life and times of the late 20-year-old Annabelle Rianne Drepaul, is a tribute written by her father, Guyanese musician and entertainer John ‘Slingshot’ DrePaul.
“On the first anniversary of Annabelle’s passing, before she left for work, Ingrid, my wife, asked me if I could put aside the memoir I was writing and write a tribute to Annabelle who passed away after completing a four-year bachelor’s degree programme in psychology in three years from the University of Central Florida (UCF),” Slingshot told Stabroek Weekend on 26th April, his birthday.
She wanted him to write the tribute as a keepsake by which Annabelle’s family members, her friends and people who knew her can remember her and for other parents who are going through grief.
Annabelle was born on 10th November, 2000 and she died on June 8, 2021. She did not display any signs of illness at the time of her death. “She died in her sleep. Her autopsy showed that her blood sugar was very low and that she died from a diabetic coma. She was supposed to have awakened on that fateful morning to go to work,” Slingshot said as his emotions took control.
Annabelle was the last of four siblings and the only child who was still living with her parents at the time of her death.
One-finger typist
At the time of writing his memoirs Slingshot was recovering from a stroke he had in 2020 that affected his movements on the left side of his body.
He recalled that when he suffered the stroke, Annabelle took over. “She picked up the slack, worked full time and still attended her classes at university. She did double shifts at her job on her days off and on weekends. She picked up that slack because I couldn’t help myself. Annabelle encapsulated that sacrifice [she] would go out of her way and do whatever she could to help. That was one of the reasons why her family and friends loved her so much,” he said.
Due to the stroke, Slingshot typed the tribute with only his right index finger. “I did it. One stroke at a time,” he said.
Before the stroke, Ingrid said, “This man used to type so fast with both hands. Then with the stroke, he was like a chicken plucking with one hand.”
Asked about his health now, Slingshot said, “In the words of Francis Farrier, ‘from a hospital bed, to a wheelchair, to a walking stick’.”
Ingrid said she thanks God every day for the progress he has made. “It could have been worse. Annabelle used to take him to his therapy. When she passed, he didn’t want to go back. He gets up every morning at 5:00 and does his exercises. He is not 100 percent there yet, but he makes breakfast for me every morning,” she added.
Slingshot, also a composer and guitarist, and Ingrid spoke with Stabroek Weekend in an emotional interview from their Florida home.
Noting that Annabelle was an overachiever, Slingshot said, “When her elder sister graduated with her master’s in business administration, and the family was celebrating at a dinner held in her honour, Annabelle declared she was going to get her bachelor’s degree in three years rather than four.
“When she passed away at age 20, the university found that Annabelle had completed the core courses and electives in three years. UCF granted her a posthumous degree – a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. When they asked for someone to be present to accept the degree. I suggested Ingrid.”
Ingrid asked if her two grandchildren could attend the event with her and the university approved.
On stage at the university’s commencement ceremony in December 2021, Ingrid said, the experience was surreal. “The whole auditorium stood up and applauded while I collected her degree. I recalled Annabelle telling me, ‘Mama I’m going to make you so proud’. She always said, ‘I’m going to go for my bachelor’s, my master’s then my PhD. They are going to call me Dr Annabelle Drepaul.’ I knew at that moment, when I received her degree she was smiling down at me.” Her graduation would have been in May 2022.
Ingrid noted that writing the tribute was an emotional journey.
“We have our good days and we have our bad days. Grief is something that comes in waves but we are learning to cope. I want everyone to take no one for granted. Don’t take life for granted. Tell your children you love them every day,” she said.
When Annabelle died, her workplace held a memorial and a butterfly release ceremony in her honour.
“Her friends used to say they envied the rapport and relationship we had. She was a bubbly and happy person. People often ask me, how is it that I am so strong? I say, I do not question God’s timing. He knows the right thing. It is a road we all have to take,” Ingrid said.
Why psychology?
“When you read my memoirs, you will realise why Annabelle tried to look deep into the minds of people; how they reacted to situations. At the age of 14, when I came home from school one afternoon, my clothes and my little worldly possessions were thrown out on the road. I gathered them up and I lived on my own. I had a stepmother. I was at Number 63 Beach on the Corentyne Coast for two and a half months and I still attended high school. Nobody knew I was there until two guys saw me. When Annabelle heard about this she wanted to know how I survived and she wanted to delve into the minds of people to know what made them do certain things,” her father said.
Asked how he survived, he jokingly said, “Read my memoirs.”
Annabelle wanted to know why he never smoked tobacco or drank alcohol and why he sponsored the same stepmother who was not kind to him and the father who condoned what was done.
“She wanted to know what goes on in the minds of people who after they punished you so much, you turned around and still helped them. Annabelle was like me. She read all but followed none, meaning religion,” he said, adding that she even tried delving into the workings of the minds of people who spoke about religion or God and still did bad things.
Ingrid added, “Because of bullying and so much stuff going on with children around the world, she was always concerned about people’s mental health which was a really big issue for her.”
First paycheck
The 76-page novella has 12 chapters which chronicles her life from the time of her birth, her love for music, how she became interested in video editing and keeping footage factual, her love for the natural environment and many humane characteristics. She liked electronic dance music festivals and her dream was to visit Belgium.
Because she grew up in a household of music, Annabelle, even as a toddler was interested in music.
“She stood up in her playpen when Ingrid and I were rehearsing a song. Tapping on top of the playpen. In her middle school, she was a drummer in the school band. She was involved in my music,” Slingshot mused.
Because she loved to see people smile, Annabelle gave of herself expecting nothing tangible in return except for their surprise or joyful reactions.
“A lot of her friends told me she helped them with schoolwork and she would take home those who didn’t have a ride,” he related,
For Ingrid’s birthday in January 2020, before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Annabelle gave her mother a card.
“When I opened it there were two tickets to Trinidad and Tobago for she and I to travel to see my mother on Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, Covid-19 struck and we couldn’t travel. She was video recording when I opened the card so she captured how emotional I had gotten but you could have seen the glee and joy in her face,” Ingrid said.
Ingrid finally got the chance to visit her mother in December 2023. This year she will be spending Mother’s Day with her mother. Along with her two other siblings, she will also spend her father’s birthday with him in Trinidad.
The book, published by Amazon, tells in a chapter, ‘The million-dollar smile’ of Annabelle when she received her first pay cheque at 15 years while doing a part-time job after school.
“She came out of the fast food place where she worked, waved the cheque and smiled at us. It was a big deal for her receiving a cheque for over US$189.35 for menial tasks like wiping the tables and sweeping the floor,” her father said.
Ingrid chipped in, “When she got that cheque, she said, ‘Send some of this to grandma.’ That was a Wow! moment for me.”
Another incident Ingrid related was Annabelle presenting her with a Pandora bracelet. Every year, for Mother’s Day, or on special occasions, Annabelle added to it, a charm or symbol that Ingrid liked.
“I have those as reminders of her love. It is hard for a parent to speak of her child in the past tense. Her motto was, ‘Live your life, love each other’. In living her life, she has left a lot of lessons for many. One is to look out for each other,” Ingrid said.
The morning of her funeral, Ingrid said, “I stopped by the breakfast table and I wrote the eulogy just off my head. Knowing that she was a person who loved humour, I had to put some humour into it because that was what she would have wanted.”
Going forward
Slingshot said that a lot of his fans have asked him about his future participation in Mashramani events. At one time, Slingshot was a fixture on a dray-cart along the Mashramani parade of the bands’ route. This year, one of the steel bands performed one of his songs, “Pirates” and earned itself a third place.
“I plan to come back to Mash once I am strong because Annabelle was always involved in it when she was young. The theme will be ‘Until we meet again’ and in tribute to Annabelle,” he said.
