New St. Catherine Custos Motivated To Serve

Prominent philanthropist and business woman,  Icylin M. Golding, will be officially installed as Custos of St. Catherine on Tuesday (November 23).

It is a position that comes after a lifetime of service to the parish as a community stalwart, business operator, board member of several schools, including Chairman of the Old Harbour High, provider of scholarships for needy and promising students, among other things.

She tells JIS News that despite serving as Secretary to a former Custos of St. Catherine and being very active as a Justice of the Peace (JP), she never dreamed of holding the office of Custos.

She says, however, that she is highly motivated to serve her parish in this new capacity.

“I can’t change. Being in this capacity is just an extension to what I have been doing… and I do hope to [serve] this office to the highest standard,” she says.

Mrs. Golding, who is a native of Bannister in St. Catherine, shares that she was raised by her parents to give service to others.

She recalls that every Sunday, she had to take dinner to less-fortunate persons in the community and at Christmastime, she and other youngsters would raise funds to support the sick and shut-ins in the area.

“It was a joy at that time. In those days you didn’t have to close your doors, and everybody’s home was for everybody. We lived a very humble life; we were comfortable with the little that we had by appreciating it,” she says.

Mrs. Golding, who is one of 10 children of small farmers, attended the Free Town and Old Harbour Primary schools.

After her secondary education at St. Catherine High School, Mrs. Golding went on to the Jamaica School of Commerce, where she did secretarial studies.

From there, she worked as secretary to the then Custos of St. Catherine, Ivan Vaz, then went on to the National People’s Co-Operative Bank of Jamaica, and later to Master Blend, a subsidiary of the Jamaica Broilers Group.

Mrs. Golding shares that she and three other persons were interviewed for the position of secretary at the office of the Custos, but she was hired when, after leaving the interview, she stopped to pick up a piece of paper that was on the ground and placed it in a bin.

She says the Custos later admitted that it was he who placed the paper on the ground as a test of the character of the jobseekers.

Mrs. Golding tells JIS News that she excelled in the position and when she decided to leave for Master Blend, the Custos took the company’s management to task for “taking away his secretary”.

Her attitude of service excellence continued at Master Blend and Mrs. Golding says “there were tears” when she left. She notes there was a family spirit at the company that helped to boost productivity.

Mrs. Golding, who later went on to open several businesses, the most prominent being operator of the RUBiS Old Harbour service station, tells JIS News that her entrepreneurial skills were gained as a teenager, when she would help out her mother who sold in the Old Harbour Market.

Through her business ventures, she is able to assist less-fortunate community persons, including  providing scholarships for students.

Mrs. Golding also volunteered her time with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC), mobilising young people from various communities to participate in the festival competitions.

She notes that, often, she would be out with the youngsters until the wee hours of the morning as they participated in various events, to ensure that they got home safely.

Mrs. Golding says that her time with the JCDC was fulfilling, as many of the youngsters went on to win parish and national events and build careers out of their festival experience.

Mrs. Golding says she remains close to her beloved Bannister community.

She tells JIS News that as Custos she will be reaching out to the citizens of St. Catherine, particularly unattached youth.

“Every person should feel that they belong, and if you can create that difference, especially for the youth, we would have done well,” she says.

She notes that she has been keeping a watchful eye on activities at game places, and will be encouraging the owners not to harbour children at these establishments.

Mrs. Golding is encouraging young people to always strive for excellence in all that they do and ensure that wherever “they are planted, they leave footprints that can’t be moved”.