REMEMBERING LUCILLE
It is a great honour for me to say these few words in CELEBRATION of Lucille Mathurin Mair, mother, patriot, friend and servant of the Jamaican People.
I had met Lucille when she was Warden of Mary Seacole Hall over 40 years ago, and watched her career grow through the academia, the arts, and foreign service, both on behalf of Jamaica and later in the United Nations. Throughout all these missions she served with diligence, dignity and excellence taking the name of Jamaica internationally to new heights.
One of Lucille"s great assets was the fact that she would listen to the other points of view, carefully make guidance judgments and have the other person think that the solution was theirs. As a diplomat and in particular at the United Nations, this rare gift served her well.
Few Jamaicans were as recognized world wide as she was. The international tributes to her on the internet and press, all paid homage to her achievements in the academic field, the struggles for equality of women, her diplomacy and personal charm. I would like to remind us that in the sixty one years of the existence of the United Nations, Lucille was the only woman in that organization, to have reached the rank of Deputy Secretary General. This was a tribute not only to her but to Jamaica as a whole, that is all of US!!! And it was in that capacity that she was the only Jamaican as far as I know, to have made the cover page of Time Magazine.
I would also like to reminisce on another trait; it was that in spite of all the distinctions heaped upon her, nationally and internationally, her simplicity and humility contributed in no small measure to her greatness. In the many years in which I knew her I cannot recall any occasion at which she blew her own trumpet!!! She went about her duties not only with knowledge and competence but also with a great sense of humour and aplomb. I still remember when she was Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations on Palestine and had then, as still is now, the almost impossible task, to organize a World Conference on this subject, in Geneva in 1982, there were so many threats on her life that she had to be accompanied by security guards round the clock wherever she went. She deftly turned this unbearable situation into a joke saying "can you imagine mi dear, me with those handsome young men sleeping across the doorstep of my hotel room wherever I went in the world? And trotting behind me when I go to powder my nose? ". Most people, men or women would have probably thrown in the towel and would not have wanted to take such great personal risks. To her, it was part of the job, part of what she had set out to do, part of what she believed in and the only thing to do was get on with it and at best, to joke about it. We see today, twenty seven years later this matter still being on the front burner of world politics as an obstacle to World Peace. She was one of the pioneers of international negotiations on peace in the Middle East and the consummate diplomat.
No institutions exist without proper foundations; Lucille initiated the building of many institutions: from her early young days when she was part of the youth movement for Jamaican independence; later, in independent Jamaica when she initiated most of the action for the recognition of women as part of our historical struggles, as part of the need for recognition of women´s legal rights, as part of the building of legal framework of women´s and family rights. She subsequently carried this struggle outside of Jamaica to the international scene where she was one of the initiators of the Decade for Peace and Development at the United Nations.
I must add that we have today on our $500.00 note the picture of Nanny of the Maroons. The privileging of this woman as a national hero is in no small part connected to Lucille´s work on women"s history in Jamaica. This is part of her legacy to Jamaica - that young men and women can grow up in a country where a woman"s importance is part of their everyday lives. The impact of this is immeasurable.
She was a feminist without reservation and was the avant guarde of this movement in Jamaica. And yet she approached this with the same elegance and wisdom as the many other struggles in which she was involved. She was not part of the "bras burning brigades of the 60s" . She was always the image of consummate elegance. As a retired politician friend from Germany wrote me two days ago, I quote " I remember her always very elegantly dressed, beautiful jewellery mostly silver which made her stand out as much as the sober subjects on which she spoke."
As a builder of these foundations she will have made a contribution which long outlast the publicity of the ribbon cutting ceremonies where the ribbon is cut, discarded and forgotten while the building continues to stand.
Au revoir Lucille, rest well my friendIrena Cousins
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