‘Let us carry her torch forward.’ Hundreds gather to grieve Nancy Metayer Bowen
Christian rock floated through the speakers on Friday as hundreds of mourners passed through the columned entryway to the Church by the Glades sanctuary.
Dozens of flower arrangements lined the hall, with more tucked behind an unused reception desk, as family, friends and those paying their respects lined up to grieve Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen.
The viewing closed at 12:15 p.m., and Metayer’s close relatives were the last to say their final goodbyes.
As is Haitian custom, Metayer’s immediate family began wailing, joined by the crowd, mixing with the music in an expression of a grief beyond words as her casket was closed and topped with a blanket of white flowers.
Pastor David Hughes led the opening prayer and gave the first remarks on Metayer’s legacy.
“A life can be both brief and brilliant,” Hughes said. “Nancy’s life was both.”
In his prayer, he implored God to help those at the service to hold their grief for Metayer’s loss and their celebration of her life together.
“Lord, as we navigate today these two sets of emotions, Father I pray you help us frame this correctly, that we could avoid the idea that this was a waste,” he said. “It was a tragedy. It saddens us. But a waste? Nothing about Nancy was a waste.”
Metayer, 38, was found dead in her home on April 1 in what authorities described as a domestic violence incident. Her husband, Stephen Bowen, has been arrested and charged with premeditated murder.
Coral Springs city commissioner Joshua Simmons spoke after Hughes.
“She did not just sit at the table. She made the table bigger,” Simmons said. “We fought countless battles together and I watched her stand 10 toes down when people confronted her about something she believed in.”
He highlighted Metayer’s work in sustainability, reproductive freedom and accessibility, and left the audience with a charge.
“Nancy will not be remembered for how her life ended,” he said. “She will be remembered for how she lived. For how she showed up. For how she made the city better.”
She was the leader South Florida’s Haitian-American community needed, Santra Denis said, noting Metayer arrived early and stayed late to help with community events.
“She represented the very best of us,” she said. “She wasn’t above the work. Nancy served fully, selflessly, consistently. She was an elected official, yes, but more importantly, Nancy was for the people. From elders to youth, from neighbors to strangers.
“She didn’t just dream of a world where Black girls with locs, daughters of immigrants, could lead. She made it real. She broke glass ceilings, made space and pushed others forward.”
Richard Brookshire, who became friends with Metayer while they were students at Coral Springs Charter School and was married to her for several years, read her eulogy, highlighting her rise, resilience and place in history as the first Black and Haitian-American woman to be elected to the Coral Springs City Commission.
“In a world that can sometimes harden a soul, Nancy remained soft, loving, kind, generous, a reputation that preceded her and a spirit that will undoubtedly endure,” he said. “She used her gifts in this life to give voice to the voiceless, to protect the most marginalized, never wavering in doing what was right over what was convenient.”
Jennifer Metayer Smith shared memories of Nancy not as a leader or a friend, but as a big sister who was always one call away and loved her nieces like they were her own daughters.
“She taught me humility, that nothing was too big to take on, to find the joy in a challenge, and how being your authentic self was the only way. She supported me, encouraged me, and held my hand in all my endeavors,” she said.
State Rep. Marie Woodson was the final elected official to speak.
“Let us remember Nancy. Let us remember her legacy, not just in the policies she championed, or the positions that she held — it is in the lives she touched, in the hearts she inspired,” Woodson said. “She would want us to be bold. This was Nancy; she was bold in her convictions, bold in her actions and in her unwavering support for one another.”
Woodson shared a Haitian Creole phrase she said Metayer often repeated: Ansanm, nou se limyè. Ansanm, nou se espwa.
In English, “Together we are the light. Together we are the hope.”
“Let us carry her torch forward,” Woodson said. “Nancy my little sister, a job well done.”
