SSTC pays tribute to former principal Dr Cecile Walden
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Dr Michelle Pinnock (second from right), daughter of the late Dr Cecile Walden, presents remarks on behalf of her family during a remembrance and honour service on Wednesday at Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Montego Bay, St James. Also pictured are Walden’s other children (from left): daughters Cathryn Walden and Evelyn Walden, and son Robert Walden.
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Students of the Montego Bay-based EBER Preparatory School perform a cultural item during a remembrance and honour service for Dr Cecile Walden on Wednesday.
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Representatives of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information’s Region 4 pay tribute to Dr Cecile Walden in son.
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Dr Ricardo Bennett, principal of the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Montego Bay, St James, delivering remarks.
WESTERN BUREAU:
Retired educator Dr Cecile Walden was honoured in glowing speeches and songs on Wednesday night at the Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College (SSTC) in Montego Bay, where a remembrance service was held in her honour.
Scores of past and present students turned out to honour the woman, who, for many years, was one of the most revered educators in western Jamaica.
Walden, who taught at Cornwall College, also in Montego Bay, between 1967 and 1975, joined the staff at SSTC in 1975 and was appointed vice-principal three years later. She was appointed principal in 1985. She died on March 22 this year at the age of 80.
Wednesday evening’s programme included presentations and remembrances from the SSTC’s board and student body, representatives of the Ministry of Education’s Region 4 office, the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), and the Jamaica Teachers’ Association. The programme also included cultural presentations from students of the Montego Bay-based EBER Preparatory School and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts’ Western Campus.
Walden’s daughter, Dr Michelle Pinnock, director of Region 4, remembered her mother as a model of kindness to both her family and all those she interacted with in her professional and personal life.
“She walked before us like a quiet architect of hope, a patient bridge-builder, placing plank upon plank across the rivers of doubt so all the world’s children can cross safely into tomorrow,” said Pinnock. “When others spoke harshly or tried to wound the heart, she would say quietly, ‘Love even the one who criticises and wrongs you, for kindness is strength and love disarms bitterness.’
GRATITUDE
“I know you are hurting, but I want you to understand that Mommy wanted us to celebrate and to keep on building bridges for other persons. On behalf of our family, we extend heartfelt thanks to the entire SSTC team for conceptualising, organising, and executing this beautiful function to honour our beloved mother,” she added.
Meanwhile, SSTC’s current principal, Dr Ricardo Bennett, cited the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31 while hailing Walden for her exemplary work in training teachers during her more than three decades of service at the college.
“We are gathered in these gates, the gates of SSTC, to let the works of Dr Cecile Walden speak, and they speak through the hundreds of teachers who were trained on her watch, through the policies and programmes she shaped, the standards she upheld, and the culture that she helped to build. For over 30 years, Dr Walden walked through the gates of this college, not seeking personal glory, not reaching for empty accolades, but giving of herself consistently, sacrificially, to the work of teacher education,” said Bennett.
Walden, a niece of former Governor General Sir Howard Cooke, was a past student of the St Hilda’s Diocesan High School in St Ann; The University of the West Indies, Mona; Ottawa University in Canada; and Central Connecticut State University, which awarded her an honorary Doctorate of Pedagogy in 2004.
In addition to her work at SSTC, Walden served as an executive director of the JCDC from 1992 to 1996 and was also a justice of the peace.
christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com