The Norma Keizer Secondary School

by Patmos Richards Fri Mar 08, 2013

There is a sombre mood engulfing the educational landscape here in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Our nation has lost one of its educators, extraordinaire, Mrs Norma Keizer; she passed away peacefully at her New Montrose home.{{more}}

During Mrs Keizer’s lifetime, this writer featured her prominently in my column “Retired Teachers”, circa 2003-2005 in “The Vincentian” Newspaper.

To have manned a secondary institution preserved for young girls for a period which spanned four decades was an excellent achievement. Mrs Keizer’s role was not just confined to academic instructions, she also saw her role as a moral obligation to nurture these young girls for life. Eventually, many if not most of them, including her sister, Mrs Peggy Hull, would carve outstanding niches in the echelons of the Public Service.

Mrs Keizer’s visionary leadership saw the establishment of a Science Resource Centre to meet the needs of those students who were and still are scientifically inclined; and the formation of the Girls’ High School steel orchestra, blending academic with positive native culture.

Mrs Keizer’s predecessors, mostly British and regional expatriates, would have left memorable legacies in terms of high standards of discipline and outstanding academic achievements on which Mrs Keizer, on assuming headship of the G.H.S, was able to solidify.

Norma Keizer was an impeccable role model on which young women today could fashion their lives. She lived a life of rectitude, and a life also committed to serving the wider communities of St Vincent and the Grenadines through charitable ventures. This noble, venerable lady allied herself with progressive civic organisations, including the National Trust.

Mrs Keizer was highly esteemed by virtually all sectors of the Vincentian community for her humility, her stature as an educator, a mentor and a community matriarch.

Founder and editor of this newspaper, Mrs Keizer’s incisive and brilliant editorials brought her national and regional acclaim in media circles. She was indeed a versatile human being and perhaps her versatility would have rubbed off on her offspring: Mrs Andrea Bowman has picked up from where her late mom left off. She is head of the Girls’ High School and Clare is the current editor of this newspaper. Dr Keizer-Beache, is a doctor worthy of note. This is an illustration that Mrs. Keizer left a strong family structure behind her.

I now come to the crux of this tribute: rename the Girls’ High School the Norma Keizer Memorial Secondary School in honour of Mrs Keizer.

Dr Kenneth John, one of Mrs Keizer’s brilliant products in his time as a pupil, would undoubtedly agree and of course there are many more, including Dr Ralph Gonsalves, another of her academic protégés, and John Horne, who named the resource centre at the Girls’ High School in her honour, that Mrs Keizer would have met all the criteria for deserving this noble honour bestowed upon her posthumously.

I am eternally grateful to the late Norma Keizer for making me a columnist in the SEARCHLIGHT during the years 1998-1999, in which I featured sportsmen and women cricketers in particular of yesteryear, in my column.