Vincia (Allen) Allen-Atkins

Vincia Allen-Atkins 70 of Hyde Park, passed away suddenly on July 17, 2019.  Beloved wife of Julius R. Atkins of Hyde Park.

On January 28, 1949, Richard and Mary Allen brought forth a force of nature. Vincia Allen was born in Plymouth County of Montserrat, West Indies. Her family migrated to Canada in the 1960’s before coming to America and settling in Boston, Massachusetts. A polished student, she went on to complete high school at the prestigious Girl’s Latin School, (later renamed Boston Latin Academy), the first college preparatory school for girls in the United States. She then earned her Bachelor of Science in Language at Northeastern University, also located in Boston, Massachusetts. She loved language and studied German, French, Spanish and English. She dreamed of moving to New York City and working as an interpreter for the United Nations.

Upon graduation, she suddenly developed a passion for teaching. This was no real surprise to those around her because she taught Sunday School with such ease and grace. Her outgoing persona and desire to nurture simply radiated around children. She pursued this and taught middle school at the Martin Luther King School in Dorchester, Massachusetts.

Vincia then went on to work for a large health insurance company called Blue Cross Blue Shield in the early 1970’s. This is where she met a man who caught her eye. A few short years later, Julius Ronald Atkins became her husband and she became Vincia Allen-Atkins.

While working her full-time job, she soon found a part-time opportunity in the Direct Sales industry in the early 1980’s with a company called Princess House. This work challenged her. She started as a part time Sales Consultant. Her business thrived. This excited her and the entrepreneur within started to ache for more time and attention. She left her job and jumped into Princess House with both feet. She became a full-time Sales Consultant and never looked back. Armed with a product she loved, a true passion for the company and her innate leadership and managerial skills, she soon became a Sales Manager. This position allowed her to recruit, train and build a team of approximately 15 consultants at the peak of her business. Many people in this very room have Princess House products in their homes today, products that they use and love because of Vincia’s Princess House business. Her salesmanship has filled many a shelf with beautiful, hand crafted, hand blown, crystal drinkware, serveware and tableware items. She loved to entertain and to welcome people into her home. She was a phenomenal cook. The codfish, the bread pudding and sweet potato casserole, oh my! It too brought her so much joy to present a beautiful and inviting dinner table. Paper plates and plastic cups were not even allowed in her home. “But think of the convenience” we would all say. Her response? No words. Just a side eye and a turned up lip followed by a long West Indian strups. She worked with Princess House for about 30 years with her last show around 2010.

Fondly known as the official family historian, Vincia truly loved her family. She understood the meaning of family in a way that most do not. She stayed in touch with everyone and always kept people in the loop with the goings on of other family members, even those across oceans. She wanted others to understand how this person was connected to that person. Her love for family was further demonstrated when she recruited two of her nieces, Shondalea and Autumn, to assist her as she took on the roles of organizer and planner for our first family reunion in 2017. In true leadership fashion, she tasked another one of her nieces, Zaria, with creating a family tree that could be presented via Powerpoint. The tree was to be presented with photographs that Vincia cherished and was built on a foundation of her memories and her stories. Zaria presented the tree perfectly at the Family Reunion. It was an astounding history lesson indeed! What is a demonstration of family love? Look to Vincia, she set the example.

Vincia loved to dance! Whether doing The Bump in the 1970s at one of her infamous parties at her Seaver Street apartment, whether attempting The Running Man in her home on Hosmer Street, or simply vibing with a gentle sway at her apartment on Georgetowne Drive, she graced us with that radiant smile as soon as the first note of music was heard. That smile, seen across the room, meant that she was about to get down and Boogie Oogie Oogie!

Vincia also loved to travel! She has been to many places around the globe. Be it by car, train, plane or boat…she experienced the beauty of Hawaii, Illinois, Tennessee, Washington DC, California, Florida and New York, to name a few. Internationally, she visited Canada, Morocco, Brazil and of course most of the Caribbean Islands, including her home, Montserrat. Her love of people, culture, of sharing and of learning new things and experiencing life, filled her with joy and energy.

Often admired as the calm, measured, gentle voice of reason, she was very well spoken and pointed. She loved God, Christ and church. She loved to read and to pray. She did so daily. When her vision became impaired, she never missed a beat and loved to listen to the weekly Bible Lesson.

It’s no wonder that her absolute favorite color was yellow. Yellow is the brightest color in the spectrum. It’s the most luminous of them all. It’s the color of optimism, enlightenment and creativity. It’s the color of happiness, warmth and sunshine. There are an infinite number of yellow rays of light that shine from the sun. Each one unique, purposeful and known by the Father, for He made all that there is. Vincia’s light will forever shine bright.

She is preceded in death by her parents Richard and Mary Allen, her sisters Ida Hunt and Isabel Allen, her nephew David Skerritt and her brothers in-law James Atkins and Carey Payne.

Our dear beloved Vincia is survived by her husband, Julius Ronald Atkins, her sisters Helen Walling and Adelina Skerritt, her brother Alistair Allen, along with brothers in-law Everett Walling, Ambroise Hunt, Peter Skerritt and Rudy Glover, sisters in-law Eula Atkins, Florence Glover, Gwendolyn Payne and a host of nieces, nephews, great nieces, great nephews, cousins and dear friends.

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