A Salute to Woman

THE WEEKLY GLEANER | MARCH 24 - MA RCH 30, 2021 | www.jama ica-gleaner.com | I8 THE WEEKLY GL AN R | MARCH 24 - APRIL 24, 021 | www.jamaica-gleaner.co | WOMEN’S MONTH FEATURE BASIL SMITH, his wife and an infant daughter arrived in Atlanta at the end of July, 1979 to a very small Jamaican community. He worked as a structural engineer, as the family gradually became acclimatised to the new environment. “We found a church home after a while and our family has maintained membership up until now, broken only by our children going off to college and relocating,” he says. “Professionally, my growth was steady, as I designed numerous notable buildings and bridges in and around Atlanta, perhaps reaching a zenith of being co- lead structural engineer in the design of the Olympic Stadium - a long way from my overnight, deadline-driven work sessions when I just started out.” Among the family’s best triumphs are the educational success of their three daughters. He says, all have maintained a sobering concept of them- selves, with a great sense of family. Basil Smith Evangelist Elsada Miriam Duncan – posthumous Errol George Ritchie ERROL GEORGE Ritchie, Sr, attended Munro College in Malvern, St Elizabeth, Jamaica, and the University of Western Ontario (Canada). He migrated to the USA in 1980, and a year later, graduated with anMBA – Finance & International Business, from Columbia University. He met his wife Evora Pearson in New York, where he operated a food-related business. Errol moved to Atlanta, Georgia in 1989, with his family and, while working at IBM, he founded Select International Products and started the‘Caribbean Section’in Kroger and other chain stores. He later founded Tropic Products International (TPI) in 1996, and built it to become a major Caribbean Food and Water distributor in the Southeast USA. While serving as president of the Atlanta Jamaican Association (AJA) 2010 – 2013, he worked hard to project AJA as a caring and inclusive organisation. Errol received NAJASO’s ‘President’s Distinguished Service Award’ in 2012. EVANGELIST ELSADA MiriamDuncan, was born on January 15, 1908, in the small town of Brainerd, St Mary. Her education was mainly self-taught. She moved to Kingston in the 1920s and became chief seamstress at the Maricel Garment Factory. She was ordained a Christian evangelist in Bethesda, Maryland, and served as evangelist/ missionary at various churches in Ohio. When she moved to Alpharetta/Milton, GA in 1994, she knew this was where she would be content when it was time for her to leave the earth. For her 110th birthday, the Mayor of Milton, GA, honoured her at City Hall by observing January 15, 2018, as ‘Elsada Miriam Duncan Day’, the oldest living Jamaican in the USA. At 111 years, she transitioned in March, 2019. At the onset of the newmillennium, she offered the opinion that things were moving so fast and would often tell folks to “take time and walk fast”. TENZIL DIXON arrived in Atlanta, Georgia in 1957, and worked with the Atlanta Journal Constitution for a total of 50 years, moving from being a paper boy to becoming division man- ager. He retired in 2007. After his retirement,‘Denzil’enjoyed spending time with family, and picked up a new activity of walking every day for exercise. A charter member of the Atlanta Jamaica Association (AJA), Dixon served the organisation in several capacities, including as president, treasurer and secretary. He advocated help for persons in need, and especially from those who were more fortunate. He transitioned on September 16, 2020. Tenzil Hugh ‘Denzil’ Dixon – posthumous