BEAUTIFUL STORIES of triumph were read at St. Gabriel's Church Hall, May Pen, on Wednesday where five persons from Middlesex County received the Governor-General's Achievement Award.
All from humble means, in keeping with a criterion of the awards, the five have lived exemplary lives, rising above poverty and giving sterling service in their communities.
Who are these role models? They are petite Tatyana Armstrong, 64, from Manchester, Girl Guide leader, church elder and teacher who has had a significant impact on several communities in the parish.
Representing St. Ann, Theda Scott, 77, educator whose four children, including current JTA president, Dr. Nadine Scott, have followed her into the classroom.
St. Mary farmer Allan Mitchell, 86, who began his working life as a lorry sideman with the Public Works Department and, from his meagre salary, saved to buy land to develop his farm.
Hilbert Glenn, 57, now a successful businessman in St. Catherine, was taken for dead after a motor vehicle accident and left in a morgue for four hours. All around him was death. He has seen his father, mother, uncle and aunt die. The former messenger was described as a man of resolute determination and Herculean will.
And from Clarendon, Daniel Campbell, 60, the last of 15 children. He was forced to discontinue his education at age 9 and learn a trade. Now a businessman, he gives generously to the poor.
Accolades were plenty. Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke was effusive in his praise of the recipients.
He urged the media to highlight the positives in society.
"As Jamaicans we seem to have been able to get the best of all races, the black man, the Indian and the Lebanese are all working together, we are not telling our people that we have produced some of the best people in the world, we want unity of purpose and we have to get the equation right to know the answer."
He also encouraged those present to strive to emulate the recipients.
"You all should make sacrifices, and with humility take the youngsters and teach them the way of life, I have a feeling that we are ready and poised to lead the world into integration," he said.
The annual Governor-General Achievement Awards is a collaborative effort of The Gleaner and the Building Societies Association of Jamaica.
Each year 14 awards are made to persons nominated by their peers and selected by a Committee headed by the Custodes.
Later this year the recipients will be given the Governor-General's pin at a Kings House ceremony. To date 130 persons have been selected over nine years.
