And, while the community mourns the passing of this mother, daughter, sister and wife, the fisheries community mourns the passing of a champion for Belize's marine resources.
Today, we spoke to her old boss and close personal friend Beverly Wade who spoke to her on Sunday morning, hours before she died.
Beverly Wade, Vivian's Friend/Colleague
"I actually had a conversation with Vivian the Sunday morning, ahm…and it was a conversation o talk about how she was feeling, to talk about - still even though she was down, she was busy putting together arrangements for her husband's memorial which was being plan for the end of this week. Talking about her fears, the fact that she was still very fearful, fearful of the police who are now were the persons who were there to protect her."
Beverly Wade was one of Vivian Belisle Ramnarace's closest friends, but before she was her friend, she was her boss. Wade hired the young marine biologist fresh out of out of University as a Fisheries officer in 2007.
Beverly Wade, Vivian's Friend/Colleague
"I still remember this very young, relatively timid young lady big hair, but from the day that Vivian entered the fisheries department we realized that she was somebody always special."
In her 15 years at Fisheries, she went from field work to policy office to international conferences, where she made a legacy for herself.
Beverly Wade
"Vivian has made a name and has created this history in the blue space in fisheries in conservation. Vivian began to be known internationally, in fact my emails are being flooded from colleagues from UNESCO. When Belize was placed on list of sites to be endangered, she was one of the national leads to put together a draft state of conservation which was really a road map to get Belize off that list and the person who was on the ground coordinating that along with other colleagues was Vivian. She represented government at the highest level. Belize is one of the champions for the Commonwealth Blue Charter of all the Commonwealth countries Belize is one of 19 countries - champions and action group and Vivian was the main person with that and so we have colleagues from Australia that are totally in shock about this loss. A loss to us nationally, a loss to the public service and a loss to the whole movement internationally."
Known internationally but on New Year's Eve that didn't matter to her killer - who went in to her house to kill this mother as she sheltered her 5 year old daughter behind her back and reportedly took 6 shots, but survived!:
Beverly Wade
"Vivian's family was her everything. Vivain's child and the fact that she was a mother to Caitlyn, was her world and I guess the whole ordeal attested to that, because the reports I've gotten is that Vivian - in fact she relayed that to me. Her biggest objective during that tragedy was to make sure that her daughter was okay and she was basically shielding that child and that's her. Vivian loved - I can't even explain it - selflessly and she died defending her child."
"She's a fighter, she's fierce when it comes to fighting. I knew she would have made it through, hence why Sunday's news was totally devastating and still is devastating, because she was fighting and its almost like we're living that trauma all over again, because we were all looking forward to her being on the road to recovery."
"It stirs anger to know, to start understanding the bits and pieces and circumstances of this monster who was out there and could have done something like this or who has been allegedly identified as being the person who did this and it makes me angry, because I feel like she has been cheated out of life. If anybody knew Vivian she was always smiling, she had this very loud and intoxicating laugh and she was just a lover of life and its something that we're having a hard time dealing with."
"It makes reflect on the justice system, it makes us reflect on whether or nor there will be justice for Vivian and it makes us angry to be here."
But when she spoke to Vivian on Sunday, there was no anger - just the practical urgencies of a recovering mother:
Beverly Wade
"But her biggest things were getting better, she had little concerns here and there talking about her anxiety naturally and the trauma that she was coping with, but still very positive - ah, I have lee pain but nothing too major and that was Vivian - always looking at positive."
And now, he friend hopes her legacy and contribution are remembered:
Beverly Wade
"Vivian is among a special group of people, a special group of women who have been leaders in Belize in terms of advocating for the wise use of our ocean, our marine and our coastal resources. She is in that group of people who worked tirelessly, totally committed to ensure that what Belize has and what is often showcase that the integrity of that is maintained."
Vivian legacy will always be here and we need to ensure that people know what her contribution was and that we continue to use her as an excellent example."
"She was a person who was passionate, passionate about life, passionate about work, passionate about the people she loved and passionate about family and she was a person who was fierce and willing to fight for those things. She was a sweet person, she was the kind of persons who was keen on how people that she cared about was feeling or doing."
