BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MAXWELL ‘Mad Max’ Chumney will forever be remembered by his family, close friends and everyone who had the opportunity to interact with the late kindhearted man, who always brought a smile on serious-looking faces with his cheerful and humourous disposition.
Sadly, Chumney was gunned down in his West Street, Newtown home in the wee hours of Wednesday, January 20, 2010.
Following a news article posted on SKNVibes, many persons expressed dondolences, kind words and their fondest memory of Chumney.
A comment, posted by Madone, states, “R.I.P madmax you will be miss and all your jokes as well. I know people will get all kinda tingz to say but you was a nice loving person. Last time when you was in Nevis you killed me wid jokes, just let your soul rest in peace...”
Another comment, this time by Not Nice, reads, “Yo I don't have much sympathy for many who get gunned down but dis youth here, I fix couple phone for him and he is strictly a funny guy, always laughing or bringing a smile on woman face...I remember he in Nevis an telling a youth look woman instead a fight...dis man was cool like da...One of the few who deserve to live and spread a positive vibe...But I guess is where you from nowadays...R.I.P. Mad Max.”
“Just last week I promised you I would have the part you needed for the phone. Now the first call I get this morning turned my day off I know next week I wouldn’t hear you knocking my door off or shouting my name from the bottom of my road to the top. Always a person who could make you laugh it’s sad, you was a true rastaman, never believe in the violence always ‘fi the gyal dem’. RIP Max you will be missed until we meet again brethren! All the man dem, the war thing ain mek no sense! RIP Max Bless!” Spajal wrote.
Chumney was laid to rest at the Springfield Cemetery on Tuesday (Feb. 2), following his going home service at the Wesley Methodist Church on Seaton Street.
The Funeral Service gave loved ones and friends an opportunity to come together remembering the man he was and also to formally say goodbye.
Popular artiste Infamus performed his hit ‘21 Gun Salute (We Miss You)’ at the Church Service while the hearse played music by Bob Marley as it made its way to the burial site.
His childhood and best friend Janelle Archibald gave the Formal Remembrance in which she spoke of the friend she knew.
Archibald told SKNVibes she spoke about the fact that he loved to cook, wash and clean, a trait he learned and practiced since boyhood.
“He wasn’t an ‘A’ Student but because of his personality and the people he met along the years, that sharpened him in terms of his education and also from experiences being on the street. He loved his mom and his grandmother who taught him how to cook and wash.
The fact that he could walk into a room and not know anyone but just light up the place, and after you’ve met him that one time, you felt like you knew him all your life,” she said.Archibald said that she first met Chumney in the second form after she returned from the US.
“His cousin, Cleve Chumney, was my neighbour and, after Jason was going away to the States, he said to him jokingly, ‘Leave me to take care of Janelle when you go’, and it ended up that way. Anything that I needed, any advice…he was always there.
“Besides being my best friend, he grew to become my brother. He’s that caring person, he’s the uncle my daughter never had. I have blood brothers but she doesn’t know them the way she knows him, so he was an uncle to her and brother to me,” she said.
She said that Chumney would give her advice about relationships and she would reciprocate.
“He was a guy who never liked trouble, afraid of ‘lock up’. He would always say, “Janelle me nuh warn go nuh jail, that ain’t for me”. So he would try stay away from that. Even though he would socialise with people of different backgrounds, he tried to stay away from the trouble.
He was more into checking for the girls, making jokes…like someone said they need to name Fort Street after him because that’s where he use to be by OJ,” she said.
Archibald said that the kindness he showed to her daughter would always stand out in her mind. “They had a close relationship, a lot of the things she knows now is because of his patience and his time spent with her,” she said. Alden OJ Maynard said that the kindness Chumney showed to children is one of the things he would remember about him. Maynard recalled that Chumney had worked in his Watch No Face Restaurant for about three years.
“I know Maxwell from a youth, we went school together. He was a little younger than me so we knew each other from a long time. Max was a real loving fellow, he showed a lot of love to kids, always harassing the ladies, he just love to harass people and express himself…a real loving guy,” he said.
“It was terrible when I learnt of his death. I was doing breakfast and a guy who went school with us said someone called him and told him…it was a tough loss but what I would remember most is his caring and niceness towards people. He was a hard working guy, he had a lot of love in his heart and showed a lot of love to kids.”
Archibald said that she still struggles with the reason why someone would kill him. “The foreday morning he was murdered, he had just cooked food and gave to his neighbours, because everyone loved him for his sweet cooking. When he got killed, he was actually sitting down in his yard and eating that same food that he cooked…food was still in his mouth.
“Now for a person or persons to go in his yard and do him like that is inconceivable. What could he have done? The kind of relationship we had, if he was in trouble he would have said to me, ‘Janelle so and so is the case, so in case something happen you done know this is the situation.’
He never conveyed that information to me nor to Sprite/Okarn who is another close friend of his. We were not of the view that he was in anything. He was a guy that would make his mouth big, but that’s about it. He’s not the type to follow through. So I asked myself, was it that he saw something and they think like maybe he would talk about it? He had no money; he wasn’t a rich guy…”
She said that Chumney was not involved in any illegal activities as far as she knew. “It wasn’t a case where he was caught up in undesirable stuff. So you know, okay, this happened maybe because of his affiliation with so and so. That’s not the case, he socialised with everybody. Whoever did it, I wonder how can they live with themselves and sleep at nights, and the Lord will dispense his justice one way or the other,” she said.
Archibald said what made it harder was the fact that Chumney was on his way to Nevis to visit her the morning of the day he was murdered.
“He was supposed to come Nevis the same day. I spoke to him around 11 in the night and told him where I was going to leave the keys so he can get in the house. And the morning I woke up to a call saying that they just found him dead. I couldn’t believe that because I knew he was coming Nevis that same morning.”
She said that the day before Chumney’s death, he prepared for his trip by washing clothes and tidying his yard. “It was clothes he was bringing to Nevis, and when I got to St. Kitts after learning the news and went straight to his home, I saw the clothes on the line and I knew he really was intending on coming up. He could have been here (Nevis) the day before and come up with another friend, but he had to wash and tidy his yard and give someone his key before he came up,” Archibald said.
Another thing she attested is that Chumney was a very honest person.“He never stole from me. He’s the kind of person who preferred to ask you for something rather than to take it from you. If he came by you and you tell him to do work for you and offer to pay him, he would refuse the pay.
He would feel a lot better or rewarded if you just gave him a plate of food and showed him that you accepted him. That meant more to him than you giving him cash. It’s unfortunate that he’s gone, but as they say, the good die young.”
Chumney leaves to mourn a host of family members, including his father Maxwell (Boogie) Brooks; his grandmother Yvonne Chumney; his grandfather Clarence Hodge; step-grandfather Kenneth Hutton; sisters Ancilla, Kyrle, Theona, Rodona, Shauna and Janelle; and brothers Jamie and Tihonia.
