Moment of Silence for Lady B During National Day of Mourning – Saturday, August 8

Promoters of events scheduled for this Saturday (August 8), which will be observed as a National Day of Mourning in honour of Lady Bustamante, can pay their tribute by observing a moment of silence at the start of each event.
Members of the public are also asked to join in the National Day of Mourning for the Honourable Lady Bustamante, widow of National Hero, the Rt. Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante, who died on July 25, at the age of 97.
In the meantime, tributes continue to flow in for the life and work of Lady B, as she was affectionately called. Tourism Minister, Hon. Edmund Bartlett, in his tribute described her as: “A true icon of this nation, a lady whom we regard not only as the mother of this nation, but indeed the matriarch lady.”
The Minister added that if history is true to its process, it would say without contradiction, that Sir Alexander Bustamante was indeed the father of the nation; hence Lady Bustamante is the mother of the nation.
Mr. Bartlett, who is from the same parish as Lady Bustamante, Westmoreland, noted that the people of that parish are particularly proud of her, because she was “the epitome of the true spirit of courage that will not yield, but will lift itself up from the lowest levels and rise to the highest heights.”
“Lady Bustamante knew not, neither did we, that the little girl from Westmoreland would one day become the first Lady of government and a mother of the nation,” Mr. Bartlett said.
The Minister implored the young people of Jamaica, especially the young women, to fix their eyes on Lady Bustamante’s life, her values of courage, her strength of character, her loyalty, and her commitment to duty. He encouraged them to embrace those values as their legacy, as this will make them icons in their time.