The Joye I knew

by ANDREA BOWMAN, 16th Headmistress, GHS.

I KNEW OF JOYE [Browne] before I met her as one of my teachers of General Paper/ GP, in the Sixth Form of 1977-80. She had a cool, regal presence which invited discussion and analysis. Our sixth form audacity allowed us to think that we were on par with her in these discussions, but we later realised that she was gently moulding and teaching us how to formulate an argument; how to structure analysis.

I joined her on Staff at the St.Vincent Grammar School/ SVGS for the 198081 academic year.

What a joy this was! I remember a vibrant staffroom filled with intellectual stimulation and socio-cultural awareness. I returned to the SVGS staff-room in 1984 after a three year sojourn at the Cave Hill Campus of UWI, and Joye was now dedicated to leading the St. Vincent Union of Teachers / SVUT. I joined right away.We were also arm in arm against apartheid. Pan-Africanism contributed to our vision of the still emerging Caribbean consciousness. In 1997, Joye was appointed in absentia to serve as the Headmistress of our alma mater, the Girls’ High School / GHS. My seat in the SVGS staff-room gave me a ring-side view of the restiveness which this appointment had created next door. Joye took her place as the 14th Headmistress, and a quiet solidity marked her relatively short tenure which ended in 2001.

Shortly thereafter, she began service as the President of the GHS Past Students Association, and it seems as though she has died in this office. This, one of her last posts, is one which gave her deep joy. She methodically structured and presided over our meetings. She was pivotal to the past-students’ participation in our Centenary Celebrations which culminated in 2011. Joye carried one of the 100 past-student torches in the “iconic” (her word) Torch Relay which ignited our Celebrations. Her bearing of this torch is clearly symbolic.To Joye, GHS has a unique responsibility in our evolving society. She bore this responsibility with grace and dignity.We are grateful for the light of her journey. She has gone ahead.We continue in her path of informed, dedicated service to our country. Rest well my Staff House sister, we remain verdant and ever-green.