Retiring QC deputy headmistress honoured with gifts, tributes
Stabroek News
April 30, 2002
Retiring Deputy Headmistress of Queen's College, Jamaica-born Clare Patricia Blake was yesterday honoured by the school for rendering some 26 of her 37 years in the teaching profession at the country's premier secondary school.
Blake, fondly called `Blakey' by many of her students, taught English Language and English Literature.
She was honoured in tributes and presented with a number of gifts by the staff, the Board of Governors, Parent-Teacher Association, Queen's College Old Students Association, students and ancillary staff.
Among the many who attended the valedictory ceremony at the National Cultural Centre yesterday were Blake's husband, CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General, Byron Blake, and her three sons who attended QC and were taught by her. Ministry of Education officials, past and present teachers and students of Queen's College and Secretary-General of CARICOM, Edwin Carrington were among the many who attended the three-and-a-half-hour long programme.
Among those paying tributes were Principal Wendell Roberts who described her as a colleague, friend and sister who has a passionate love for Queen's College.
The principal described Blake as a teacher par excellence, and a "stalwart despite the changing scenes of time," having gone through the changes in the country's education system from co-education to free education, the introduction of the Caribbean Examination Council examinations in the local system, the introduction of the National Fourth Form examination, the introduction of the Secondary Schools Reform Project and now the introduction of the National Third Form Examination, among others.
Describing her too as the institutional memory of Queen's College, she recalled that Blake had rallied with the school through good times and bad including the period when a major portion of the building was gutted by fire.
Apart from Roberts, also speaking in appreciation of Blake's contributions were former principal and parent Diana Rutherford; Blake's son, Ohini, who described her as a father and mother in the absence of his busy regional and international public servant father; teacher Frank Maloney; former students and members of the Fung family; and parish priest of Christ Church, Canon Thurston Rhiel.
The students and staff also put on a number of outstanding cultural performances including a choral rendition of a scriptural reading, violin solo, Indian and salsa dances, poems, a cultural portrayal of Latin America; and dramatic excerpts from Shakespeare's As You Like It Act II - Scene IV.