The late Thelma Phyllis Rose Campbell, social worker extraordinaire, may be best remembered for her altruism and work on Festival and Labour Day committees. But for friends and family, it is her good-naturedness, charm and quick-wittedness which shone through.

Mourners who turned out at the Church of the Ascension in Kingston on July 15 to bid her farewell showered the matriarchal figure with adulation for selfless service.

Sonia Dixon, former president of the St Hugh's Past Students' Association, lauded the zeal with which Campbell, a former student of the all-girl secondary school, pursued her responsibilities in the Girl Guides club.

An excerpt from the tribute read: "Up to the time of her passing, Mrs Thelma Rose Campbell was very loyal to St Hugh's (and) described it as her favourite institution and acknowledged the tremendous contribution that the school made to her life."

Cecil Harnett, brother of the deceased, described his sister as a sassy, humorous, adventurous woman whose journey started with abandonment by her father and ended with a legacy of civic contributions.

Practical and down-to-earth

The Reverend Father Seymour Blackwood, who officiated at the service, told well-wishers that Campbell was an individual who had "caught the essence of agape love". He said she was practical and down-to-earth, and always believed God was in control of her life.

Niece, Andrea Harnet-Robinson, said Campbell was, for her, a role model.

"She was kind, loving and veryinfluential," Harnet-Robinson said.

Campbell was born on December 16, 1915. She was educated at St George's Girls' Primary and St Hugh's High School, where she became the first student to become a lieutenant in a Girl Guides company. She later studied at the University of the West Indies and Swansea University in Wales.

Though she led a life characterised by humility and sacrifice, Campbell was a decorated philanthropist. She received several awards, including the Member of the Order of the British Empire, the Institute of Jamaica's Centenary Medal, the Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation, the Marcus Garvey Foundation Award and the YWCA's special annual membership award.

Award to students

For more than 10 years, she financed the Thelma Rose Campbell Award for Work and Citizenship as an incentive for students at St Hugh's to strive for excellence.

At a ceremony last year to celebrate Campbell's contribution to St Hugh's, she said, in a written speech, that at age seven or eight, a teacher predicted in bold red letters, marked in Campbell's exercise book, that she would leave school "knowing nothing".

Campbell said, "(I) cried for days, but as young as I was it spurred me on to disappoint her, which I did.

"As I grew up and matured at St Hugh's, I absorbed all the fine values and qualities taught there, including the importance of service and sharing," the message read.

Campbell, who died on July 6, leaves to mourn two siblings and other family and friends. Her body was cremated.

- Shernette Gillispie contributed to this story.