GDF Sergeant Pyle, wife given ceremonial send-off

The Golden Grove Seventh Day Adventist Church was packed to capacity with family members, friends and ranks of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) that turned out to pay their last respects to the late Sergeant Robert Pyle and his wife Stacy Pyle, the couple who died during the botched Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) operation.

Sergeant Pyle and his wife Stacy were laid to rest at the Golden Grove Cemetery, East Coast Demerara on Wednesday, but while their souls may be resting at peace, much controversy still exists over the manner in which they died.

At the house of worship, the church choir sung lustily in an effort to liven up the environment and while others joined in, the pain and sorrow on the faces of close family were all too heartbreaking.

GDF Chief of Staff Brigadier Mark Phillips, who attended the sombre funeral service, embraced grieving family as he expressed his deepest condolences.

Speaking to Guyana Times International, several close colleagues of the young couple expressed sorrowfulness and their sympathies.

Church member Whitney Peterkin said it is beyond unbelievable that the young couple is no longer with them.

“I can’t overcome it. It was about 1:30 in the morning and someone called me, crying, to ask me if it’s true and that’s how I know. Their lives have touched not only me, my entire family but the entire church family,” he expressed.

The Pyles, both husband and wife, were deeply devoted to the church, especially Stacy, he said.

“She was like the livewire of the Church. She believed in prayers. Whenever there was time for a testimony, she would always be the first one. She would also always have a word of encouragement to offer,” Peterkin reflected.

Stacy Pyle was a nurse at Davis Memorial Hospital.

Another colleague Paulette Stephen, said she knew sergeant Pyle since he was a little boy going to school and that the news of his death definitely threw her into a state of shock.

“I am very, very saddened because I have a son who drives and he is in the army too and my parent is crying out for the parents of both husband and wife because I can imagine how they’d feel,” she expressed.

“He was a young man full of life, and she was a woman full of life too, and their lives were cut short,” she added.

Robert and Stacy were parents to two young children who are completely devastated and confused that their parents are no longer with them.

GDF sergeant Pyle and his wife died tragically following a two-vehicle collision on Carifesta Avenue on the evening of December 30.

The incident had gained much media attention after it was revealed that Sergeant Pyle was at the time involved in a covert operation into National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

Controversy still shrouds the entire process, including inconsistencies as to why the army officer was called out whilst on vacation and why his wife was with him at the time.

Meanwhile, the accident also claimed the life of a third person, Canter driver Linden Eastman.

He was laid to rest on Saturday last.