Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley has paid tribute to retired educator Dame Avisene Carrington, describing her as “one of the brightest lights this country has ever known” and a lifelong influence on her life.
In a tribute, Mottley reflected on her years as a pupil at Merrivale Preparatory School, where Dame Carrington was her principal, and praised the educator’s dedication to generations of children.
Below is the full statement:
As Barbados prepares for the Lighting Ceremony that opens our November celebrations, we are grieving one of the brightest lights this country has ever known.
Barbados has lost a giant and I have lost a lifelong anchor.
Dame Avisene Carrington was there when so much of my life was still ahead of me. She was my principal at Merrivale, one of the people beyond my family who helped to make me who I am. Whatever else changed in my life, she remained Mrs Carrington. That is who I am saying goodbye to today.
Only in September, as we celebrated her 108th birthday, I spoke about how her memory and mobility could put so many of us to shame. I smile at that even now. There was such reassurance in knowing she was still here, with that familiar smile and that interest in life. Somehow, we had allowed ourselves to feel that she always would be.
One hundred and eight years. We know how blessed we were. Still, we would have loved a little more time.
I think of the children who passed through her care, and of how much it means to have someone believe in you when you are still finding your way. Mrs Carrington would not write a child off. Her colleagues remembered her hurrying through lunch to help a pupil who needed more time. There is love in that kind of patience. You grow up, you go out into the world, and you carry something of it with you.
Her biography, written by her daughter-in-law Hazel Lindo-Carrington, is called Simply Teacher. Imagine that. After all she had given, she wished to be remembered, in her own words, as “simply teacher”.
Today, I am simply her pupil again, wishing I could thank her one more time.
To Ronnie, Shelley, Ian, Hazel and the entire Carrington family, I offer my deepest sympathy, personally and on behalf of the Government and people of Barbados. You shared someone precious with generations of families. The country’s gratitude cannot take away your grief, but I hope it brings some comfort to know how deeply she was loved.
As we mark the 60th anniversary of Independence and our fifth anniversary as a republic, her life belongs at the heart of what we celebrate. She helped to build this country through the people she nurtured. She understood what a small spark of belief could do for a child. We honour her each time we offer that same belief to someone who needs it.
The light she gave us is still here, in the lives she changed and in the good we can yet do for one another.
There is a quiet sadness across Barbados today, and there is gratitude too. How fortunate we were to have her. How much she has left us to live up to.
There is light in this country that you put here. We will keep it burning.
Rest well, Mrs Carrington. Or, as I should properly say, Dame Avisene.
Thank you.
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