Dear Editor,

The media fraternity has been dealt another profound wound with the death of the talented and affable public relations and broadcast expert Elaine Livingston Smith, who made her earthly transition recently.

At the age of 15, while living in deep rural Jamaica, there weren’t many televisions in my village of Kitson Town in St Catherine, so radio was our main source of information, and Elaine was one of the presenters who gave simple and easy-to-understand news and features.

Later in my professional life, while Elaine was the public relations coordinator with the bauxite company, Jamalco, during which time I was based in central Jamaica, we collaborated on many community projects. Along with her late colleague Pamela Whyte, and her manager, Leo Lambert, it was work galore but fun, and the building of our craft.

She had a lot of time for me, and I missed her one-of-a-kind greeting when I called: “Hey, Garfield. What’s up?” She also had time for the people under her supervision and the community members who benefited from the millions invested by Jamalco in Clarendon and south Manchester.

I almost got into a class which she tutored at Caribbean School of Media and Communication (Carimac), but I went into another class with another great media practitioner, Tony Patel. My professional development has been enriched by working with a true professional who was not pretentious and saw her job as a calling. I gained immeasurable experience from our association, and they are lasting treasures.

Elaine had a profound impact on the development of media talent, especially in the areas of radio presentation and public relations. Many of the journalists which came out of the
Jamaica Information Service (JIS) during the 1980s and early 1990s received expert guidance from this icon who was void of hype and deception.

“She took me under her wing when I first started working at JIS Radio, back in 1982… she taught me so much about writing copy, producing my radio programmes, etc. Such a wealth of talent, endless dedicated faith, and kindness. She’s left quite an admirable legacy,” stated veteran radio personality, now life coach and motivational presenter, Totlyn Oliver.

Walk good, my cherished friend.

In the words of poet Maya Angelou: “And when great souls die, after a period peace blooms, slowly and always irregularly. Spaces fill with a kind of soothing electric vibration. Our senses, restored, never to be the same, whisper to us. They existed. They existed. We can be. Be and be better. For they existed.”

Garfield L Angus

garfieldangus@gmail.com