Irene Vincent was born on May 22, 1939 in Barbados. She was a big sister to Marva “Oneta” Best, Kelvin “Clisten” Best, who immigrated to Canada, and Dennis “Leroy” Anthony Best, who immigrated to the US and would die of cancer in Newark, New Jersey on August 20, 2008. While in Barbados, she married and had a son, Rupert Franklyn Taylor Jr., who was born on April 26, 1961, would later immigrate to the US and died on January 3, 1995 in Brooklyn, NY. After Irene’s first marriage ended, she migrated to the United Kingdom where she would become a midwife and registered nurse. She regaled people with stories of traveling and modeling in Europe. She claimed that the US recruited her because they needed more Black nurses. She started her work in Connecticut before moving to New York City. Irene would marry John Anthony Vincent on July 14, 1976. They separated three years after their daughter, Sarah Grace Vincent, was born possibly because of the Vincent family’s view on race. Later one Vincent family member would apologize. On June 29, 1983, Irene became a US citizen. Irene and John divorced on May 16, 1985, but would stay in close contact until she died.
During the AIDS pandemic, she accepted the most difficult cases at Beekman Hospital, fearlessly tended to patients when others refused or were treating the situation like a hazard. Irene joined Sarah in Cambridge, MA in the nineties, and Sarah would become her sole caretaker. In 2016, Sarah pled for her to return to Barbados because Sarah knew that a pandemic was coming, and Irene would die if she stayed. Irene refused because she wanted to be with Sarah. Sarah worked with the public during 2020 before there was a vaccine and never infected Irene with COVID by wearing a mask in closed spaces without visible ventilation shafts or air filters. While Irene was in Sarah’s care, Irene received the vaccine at the earliest date that it was available and had no negative side effects.
When Irene began to wander, against Irene’s wishes, on April 23, 2024, for her safety, Sarah admitted her to Windrose at Woburn, with mixed results. Irene danced, sang and had good times, but her psychological state deteriorated because despite their promises, they did not know how to handle her. On June 25, 2024, Irene transferred to Windrose at Weymouth to become eligible for the PACE program, and on August 26, 2024, a PACE employee last saw her in excellent physical health, but coincidentally when the PACE funds were supposed to kick in, on August 29, 2024, she was found in her room on the floor. South Shore Hospital could find no medical reason for her sudden dehydration, and Windrose at Weymouth refused to have Irene return even if others provided physical assistance. Despite paying $8,200 for August, she was effectively homeless with no more private funds. She also lost the PACE funding and support. Despite Sarah filing an elder abuse complaint on September 25 with the Senior Legal Help Line, who referred the case to Somerville Cambridge Elder Services, Sarah has received no official answers about what happened to Irene. HallKeen Management is the parent company of both Windrose locations.
On September 3, 2024, Irene moved to Neville Center, and Sarah requested the COVID vaccine for Irene. Neville never administered the vaccine even though staff and residents were beginning to get infected with the virus. On November 6, 2024, Irene tested positive for COVID. On November 15, 2024, Irene tested negative. On November 22, 2024 at 6:48 pm Neville officially declared Irene dead.
