President of the Association of Principals and Vice-Principals, Albert Corcho (background), looks on as awardees posed for the cameras with their awards. - George Henry

The Association of Principals and Vice-Principals paid tribute to a number of its recently retired members at a gala awards ceremony last Thursday held at the Gran Bahia Principe Resort in Runaway Bay, St Ann.

The function, which formed part of the association's annual conference, saw 20 retired principals and vice-principals who served the education system for an accumulated total of 600 years presented with plaques and attractive citations, which painted a colourful picture of their contributions to education, read to them in the presence of colleagues and family members.

The group of retirees included Gloria Hastings (Robert Lightbourne High), Vivia Bryan (May Day High), Veronica Thompson (Paul Bogle High), Dr Ezekiel Curtis (Papine High), Nellie Harris (Oracabessa High), Eugenie Spence (Petersfield High), Maisie Campbell (Little London High), Ethline Jackson (Mount Alvernia High), Elette Fletcher (Cedric Titus High), Cynthia Peart (Papine High), Cortis Nolan (Jonathan Grant High), Roland Powell (William Knibb High), Leslie Mair (Ewarton High), Elaine Hanlan (Spanish Town High), Alton Ruddock (Grange Hill High), Sylvia Williams (Cambridge High), Theresa Lindo (Godfrey Stewart High), Kitty Foster (Winston Jones High), and Sharon Johnson (Brimmervale High).

Addressing the large gathering in the theatre at the Gran Bahia Principe, guest speaker Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey congratulated the retirees and lauded them for their accumulated six centuries of hard work and dedication to Jamaica's education system.

She said the country cannot pay the retired principals and vice-principals for their tremendous work over all those years, but thanked them for the many lives they have changed as they helped to make the society a better place.

The senior resident magistrate encouraged the educators to keep active during their retirement years and seek to create policies so that their needs will be taken care of. She also called on the former principals and vice-principals to remain active and find other ways and means to continue making contributions, such as to their church and communities.

Replying on behalf of her colleagues, Elette Fletcher, former principal at Cedric Titus High, lauded the association for the gesture. She said that while she and her colleague retirees do not view their retirement as 'riding off' into the sunset type of adventure, they do not see or view their retirement as an adventure, but that they rather see it as an era of passage from the actual striving for accomplishment through their work, to having witnessed the realisation of a job that has been accomplished.

Fletcher called on her fellow retirees to note that retirement is the beginning of a phase of life and not an end.

"We know that the beginning is the best part of life. However, we will have to take it easy as many people think we are free so they can call on us and we can be overworked," said Fletcher to her colleagues.