Candacy Phillip to give birth to Jevon Pete by February 22

PETE Phillip will not be around to see the birth of his fifth child with his widow Candacy Phillip, but she is ensuring his memory remains by naming the baby after him.

Their son is due to be delivered by February 22.

Saying her due date was March 6, Phillip said she has a history of giving birth two weeks in advance. She said since February 15 she has been getting pains and cramps, indicating this baby too may arrive early.

Owing to the level of pain and given that her sugar level was a bit high, she is due to check in to hospital on February 21.

“Doctors will induce labour most likely on the Saturday (February 22) and take the baby,” she said.

With one Pete gone, Candacy said she will be naming her newborn baby Jevon Pete Phillip, after his late father, so she can still have a “Pete” with her, hopefully for the rest of her life.

The name Jevon carries connotations of divine favour and youthfulness. According to https://namediscoveries.com, the name is of Welsh origin and is derived from the name Ieuan, the Welsh form of John. It means “God is gracious” or “gift of God.” Jevon is said to connote a sense of divine favour and blessings, and to symbolise a person who is kind, generous and grateful for the gifts they have received.

Phillip said she is just trying to relax as she prepares to give birth without her husband by her side.

At this moment, she said her only wish is for a safe delivery.

She said with every passing day, hope dims that much will be recovered of Pete, a Well Services Petroleum Co Ltd employee whose body has remained at sea since Rig 110, on which he was working, partly collapsed on December 22, 2024.

Phillip said she would be thankful for whatever is pulled from the water, just to get closure.

Although it has been 55 days since her husband was reported missing after the mishap, Phillip told the Newsday in an interview on February 17, “With the ways things are going, I don’t know what will happen, but I just hope they find something to bring me closure.”

She said life since December, has been a constant struggle as she tries to cope with the loss, while still being a parent to their four children as well as maintaining her health as she gets ready to deliver their baby.

Pete Phillip, 46, was among 75 workers on the rig owned and operated by Well Services when it collapsed into the sea in the Heritage Offshore East Field off the southwestern peninsula around 3.09 am on December 22.

One person was injured, and Phillip was declared missing.

He was expected to complete his shift in time to spend Christmas Day with his family, who are still awaiting his remains. Their location has been identified, but the lack of proper equipment to retrieve the body and the instability of the rig have delayed recovery.

Investigations have been launched by Well Services, Heritage Petroleum Ltd, the Ministry of Energy and the Occupational Safety and Health Authority.

The company said it is committed to the recovery but would not put other lives at risk with a recovery operation.

It has given the Phillip family a commitment that recovery efforts will take place during the first two weeks in March. The company said it could not find the necessary equipment locally to oversee the recovery operation, so equipment has been procured internationally and is expected to arrive in the first two weeks of March.

On February 4, at a news briefing held by the Oilfield Workers’ Trade Union, outside the company’s Otaheite office, Pete Phillip’s mother Patricia, brother Elvis and sister Paula Baxam broke down in tears. They said they had run out of patience with Well Services.

Baxam said if the deadline for the equipment to arrive was accurate, there may not even be a body to recover.

“What will we bury? Bones maybe? Clothes? A boots? We don’t know what it is we will be getting to even self have a funeral and see our sibling for the last time,” Baxam asked.

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