Obituary of Christine Olivia Isabel Graham

Christine Olivia Isabel Graham

Christine Olivia Isabel Graham was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 10^th, 1972. She was taken into that good night—far too soon—on September 4^th, 2019, in St. Petersburg, Florida, after a long and courageous battle with illness. 

Christine was a charismatic, witty and imaginative woman with huge sparkling eyes and a keen sense of mischief.Herself a talented poet, she loved writers and philosophers from every era and genre, notably 19^th Century poet Christina Rosetti, Welsh genius Dylan Thomas, tortured novelist and poet Sylvia Plath, satirist Kurt Vonnegut and underground writer Charles Bukowski with his gritty depictions of urban life. She was among the select company of readers who wrestled meaning and joy from the opaque works of James Joyce.

Christine certainly heeded Thomas’s advice and raged always against the dying of the light. Although she was plagued with illness for much of her adulthood, her thirst for all that life had to offer, both intellectually and emotionally, never flagged. On more than one occasion, she fought back from the brink after those tending her had given her up for lost. 

As widely travelled as she was well-read, Christine lived variously in Jamaica, Canada, Britain and in several cities in the United States. She worked in a range of jobs, from television researcher to university professor’s aide, and offered love without reserve to children, animals, family and friends. 

Christine is survived by her husband Robert Halleran, her mother Jean Graham of St. Petersburg, her father, George (Sandra) Graham of Lakeland, Florida, as well as by her brother Ross Graham (Lisa) of Toronto and sister Grace Graham Alonso (Frank) of Miami. Her loss will also be mourned by a large extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins in the United States, Canada, Trinidad, Jamaica and Britain, as well as by friends all over the world whose lives she touched.

There will be a gathering on Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 2pm with a Memorial Service to follow at 3pm at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home, located at 2201 Dr MLK Street North, St. Petersburg, FL 33704.