SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine – More than 200 mourners, headed by Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe, packed the Spanish Town Methodist Church in St Catherine on Monday for a thanksgiving service to celebrate the life of career civil servant Louis Goldson who died at age 82.

Goldson, who retired as chief of protocol in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was posted to the Jamaica Consulate in New York, was remembered as a “gregarious public servant” who walked with heads of state in his capacity as chief of protocol, but never lost the common touch.

Local elder Stanard Williams eulogised Goldson as one who was committed to God and who was fully integrated in the life of the Spanish Town Methodist Church where he served as a lay preacher for 56 years. Goldson, he said, was anxious to promote the welfare of others and was keen on the development of church members, particularly young people whom he constantly sought ways to assist financially and otherwise.

In his tribute, Masonic lodge brother Chris Carty said the Masonic Order was such a part of Goldson’s life that he became a master in the order, founded the De la Vega branch, and went on to gain the Order Puissant Govirigh, the highest office in the Lodge of Red Cross

of Constantine.

Goldson was a founding member of the Lay Magistrates Association of Jamaica (LMAJ), St Catherine chapter. Senior St Catherine JP Lester Smalling extolled Goldson as a man who possessed “dignity and a rock-like integrity”.

The St Jago Heights Citizens Association, founded by Goldson in 1971, lamented that the community had suffered a tremendous loss which is almost irreplaceable.

Goldson is survived by his wife of 52 years and three children. He was interred at the Red Hills Methodist Church cemetery, Kitson Town, St Catherine.