Jamaica-born Sylvanus Winston Anthony Thompson, a self-taught visual artist, popularly known as Junior, died suddenly at his home in Lethbridge, Alberta on September 14 last.

He recently worked as a supervisor at Alpine Drywall Ltd. a construction company in Lethbridge. He was 39.

Thompson came to Canada in 1994 and attended public and secondary schools in the Toronto area where he lived with his father before returning to Jamaica for a short period.

He then returned to Canada to continue his education and to concentrate on the “visual arts.”

In an eulogy at his funeral in Toronto last Saturday, his father, Sylvanius Thompson, said that Junior, was “an accomplished self-taught visual artist, who could effortlessly draw or paint almost anything or anyone.

“He spent some time teaching visual arts to youths at a YMCA Summer Camp and other programs.

“And in an effort to further develop his artistic skills, he was accepted in the Intermediate Art and Design Program at New Nottingham College, while spending time with relatives in England.”

His father noted that Junior’s mother died “when he was about five years of age.

“I then became both a mother and father for him for the remainder of his entire life…with great support from family members of course, mainly his maternal grandmother.”

He leaves his father and several other family members, including his children, Dion, Raheem, Jakiah and Maliyah as well as their mothers Amy, Natasha and Amanda.

Funeral arrangements were handled by Covenant Funeral Home in Scarborough.

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”103″ display=”basic_thumbnail”]