Pearl L

Grant

Pearl Linda Swaby, affectionately known as Ms. Cherry, was born to the late Sarah Jane Williams and the late John Swaby on October 9, 1930 in Kingston, Jamaica. She was the fourth and last child of her parents. She resided in Jamaica for more than half her life, giving birth to all her children, Patricia, Pauline, Fernando, and Suzzette, in Jamaica as well.

On November 29, 1969, Pearl married Stafford Grant, becoming Pearl Grant. On December 30, 1984, Pearl gave her life to the Lord and was baptized on March 17, 1985. On October 2, 1988, Pearl left Jamaica and came to America with her daughter Patricia and granddaughter Naomi. While in Hackensack, NJ, Pearl worked at Bristol Manor and Whitehall Residence as a caregiver. On December 16, 1989, Pearl joined the Community SDA Church of Englewood, NJ where she served as a Sabbath School teacher, an intercessor of prayer, deaconess, member of prison fellowship ministry, and was very involved in other ministries and events in the church. Pearl later moved to Teaneck, NJ. Pearl was then hired as a personal caregiver to the matriarch of the Sacarro family in 1999 until she passed away; after which, she retired. Upon retirement, Pearl became a member of the Englewood Library Book Club, volunteered at the Women's Center in Englewood, NJ, and she participated in community activities and exercise at the Richard Rodda Community Center in Teaneck, NJ. She spent her final years living in Pottstown, PA.

Her favorite saying was: "I am holding on to God's unchanging hand, for he never fails."
Some of her hobbies were writing letters and cards, singing, cooking, and talking on the phone to friends and family. If she had your number, she made it her business to stay in contact with you. She never missed a birthday and always called or wrote expressing her well wishes and a birthday prayer that God would continue to guide and protect her friends and family. Pearl thoroughly enjoyed reading and always had a book with her. During special events and holidays, she always had a prayer for the occasion. In lieu of her love for reading and books, in 2013, Pearl wrote and published her autobiography, God's Guiding Hands, sharing her life lessons and her experiences of how her faith and relationship with God was the missing piece to a previously scattered and lost life.

Pearl was preceded in death by my mother Sarah Jane, her father John, her sister Theresa, her bother Thaddeus, and her daughters Pauline and Patricia.

On Tuesday, November 24, 2020, at Silver Stream Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center, Pearl Linda Grant transitioned to be with the Lord. She leaves to cherish her fond memories with love: Her children [son, Fernando (Kaysia) Johnson of Canada, her daughter, Suzzette (Bovan) Grant-Phillips of New Jersey], her grandchildren [granddaughters: Naomi Clarke and Bovanna and Elizabeth Phillips of New Jersey, Deidre-Ann Johnson and Jelitza (Andrew) Phillips of Jamaica; grandson: Bovan Phillips of New Jersey], and a host of other family members and friends