You Raised Us Up

May seems to be a strange month. Last May, I dedicated my blog entry to remember persons I knew who had passed on in the previous months. As May 2020 closes, I find myself having to pay tribute to three women of excellence who all died in the month of May. 

They were all retired principals of an alma mater, the secondary school I attended, the St. Michael School. A secondary school is really a combination of junior and senior high school in the USA. We enter at age 12 and leave at age 16 or 18.  Our secondary schools prepare us for life after school. Yes, we learn subjects but it is where we make friends for life. Our teachers do not only teach. They counsel. They guide. They discipline. They pass on knowledge about the subjects they teach and life in general.  Well, I can say mine did and that's why I begin with this song, dedicated to teachers.

                                                        In this Moment [Source: Billy Barker]

The co-ed St. Michael School has a quasi-elitist reputation today since most of the graduates acquitted ourselves well and entered successful careers in the teaching, administration (both public and private sector), nursing, medical and the legal professions. The school was founded in 1928 to fill the need to provide a solid, post-primary school education for girls from working class families whose parents could not afford to pay for them to attend one of the private girls' schools. With only a primary school education, girls had to learn a skill such as dressmaking or find work as maids or shop assistants in grocery or corner shops or become hucksters (vendors). The St. Michael's Girls' School was opened by the vestry to provide girls with an education in the hope of providing opportunities for upward social mobility.

Here's a shot of the St. Michael's "museum":

The uniform when I was at school is the one on the left. 😀

Constance Inniss (1916-1920)

                

As headmistress, Constance Inniss is credited with instilling the girls in the girls' school with the importance of being independent, self-assured and cultivating the social graces. She taught Spanish, having earned a degree in Spanish, French and Latin from London University. She introduced science subjects, school meals and the Spanish Club. Born in May, she died some days before her 104th birthday.

Dame Olga Patricia Symmonds (1925-2020)

Dame Patricia, as she was more popularly known was headmistress at the school when I attended. She presided over the first cohort of boys. Her tenure as headmistress began in 1976 and ended in 1985. An English teacher, she was known for her poise, articulation and her graciousness. Everything about her exuded old-world charm. She was able to instill in her charges the importance of character and civil conduct in the pursuit of excellence. In 2000 she received the honour of Dame Commander of the British Empire for her contribution to education, civil life and politics. 

Dame Patricia Symmonds and Dame Maisie Barker-Welch 

Dr. Wendy Griffith-Watson 

Dr. Griffith-Watson served as another of the School's English teachers before becoming Head of the English Department and then  Deputy Principal. She was Principal (Headmistress) from 1994 to 1996. In 1997 she became Barbados' first female Chief Education Officer serving in that position until 2009. Warm, witty, eloquent, firm, fear and fearless are words used by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley to describe her as she was Minister of Education during the tenure of Dr. Griffith-Watson.

Three outstanding female educators, who all taught at the same school, who all impacted the lives of their charges, mostly for the better. I don't often weep (there is a touching movie now on TV too), but I am weeping now. They raised us up.

         Al Josh Groban Children Choir from Africa - You Raise Me Up [Source: Boon Ming Ng]

May they rest in peace.