Lydia Bastien was born on October 22, 1954, in Berekua, Dominica, a small village on the Nature Isle of the Caribbean. She came into this world with a purpose she never wavered from: to love people, to teach them, to lift them, and to point them toward something greater than herself. On April 19, 2026, she completed that purpose and went home to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

She was 71 years old.

A Life Built on Faith

Lydia was a devout believer in Jesus Christ, and her faith was not a private matter. It was the first thing she gave to each new day. No morning began without her Bible open and her voice lifted in prayer. She was a prayer warrior in the truest sense, and those who knew her knew that if they were on her heart, they were covered. She loved to sing and worship, and the music of her faith ran through her like a river. Hymns like Amazing Grace and Yolanda Adams' The Battle Is Not Yours were not just songs to her. They were declarations. She kept her faith to the very end, and she left this world the same way she lived in it: believing.

Born to Teach

Lydia was born to be a teacher. At just 20 years old, she stepped into a classroom in Dominica and into the lives of young people who would come to know and love her as Teacher Icema. That name was not just a title. It was a testament to who she was in that community.

Her dedication to education was relentless. She earned her Teacher Education Programme certification from the University of the West Indies Faculty of Education in June 1995, and became a certified teacher through Dominica's Teachers' College on February 9, 1996. She had given nearly two decades of her life to teaching on the Nature Isle when, in September 1996, she made the profound decision to resign her position and move to the United States, armed with a glowing recommendation from the Chief Education Officer of the Ministry of Education and Sports of Dominica.

What she discovered upon arriving in the United States would have stopped many people. Her certifications, her experience, her years of service: none of it transferred. If she wanted to teach in America, she would have to start over. She did not hesitate.

She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from the College of New Rochelle on January 31, 2002 while working full-time and raising her family. She went on to earn her Master of Science in Education, with a specialization in Special Education and Early Childhood from Birth through Grade 2, from Touro College on January 31, 2012. She also received her Public School Teacher Certificate from the University of the State of New York in the area of Students with Disabilities, Birth through Grade 2. She did it all, every credential, every course, every requirement, because children were worth it.

She spent the final chapter of her teaching career serving students with the greatest needs as a District 75 teacher with the New York City Public Schools, before retiring with a life's work that spanned continents and decades.

A Love That Had No Limits

In 1976, Lydia married the love of her life, James Bastien, and later welcomed their first child. Together they built a family rooted in faith, laughter, and an open door that never seemed to close. She was a mother to three: her daughters Lily Bastien and Jay Bastien, and her son, Dr. Jason Bastien. She adored her daughter-in-law Nicole Bastien-Smith and her sons-in-law Dale Matthew and Jason Thomas. And she was a grandmother, a role she inhabited with her whole heart, to her beloved grandchildren Belle Bastien and Mike Bastien.

But Lydia's family did not end there. It never did. She had brothers and sisters across the world, in Dominica, Guadeloupe, Paris, Florida, and New Jersey, far too many to name, and each one loved. She had cousins, and she had the children she adopted by way of love alone, young people who were not hers by blood but were entirely hers by choice. And she had her friends, the ones who had walked this life alongside her, who had become the family she chose. She made everyone feel seen. That was her gift, and she gave it freely.

She Wanted You to Know

In her own words, she was happy. She lived a good life. And she had good friends. She fought a good fight, finished her course, and kept her faith. She wanted to be remembered in that light, and so she shall be.

Lydia Bastien is survived by her husband James Bastien; her daughters Lily Bastien and Jay Bastien; her son Dr. Jayson Bastien; her daughter-in-law Nicole Bastien-Smith; her sons-in-law Dale Matthew and Jason Thomas; her grandchildren Belle Bastien and Mike Bastien; her siblings across Dominica, Guadeloupe, Paris, Florida, and New Jersey; and a vast and cherished community of cousins, chosen family, and lifelong friends around the world.

She is preceded in death by those who went before her and are now welcoming her home.

"The battle is not yours. It's the Lord's."

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