PRIME Minister Andrew Holness on Friday extended condolence to Opposition Leader Mark Golding on the passing of his mother, Lady Patricia Golding, who died peacefully at her St Andrew home Thursday night. She was 92.

“On behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica, I extend heartfelt condolence to Mr Mark Golding and his family on the passing of his beloved mother, Lady Patricia Golding. May her soul rest in peace,” Holness wrote on the social media platform X, tagging the Opposition leader in the post.

The Opposition leader, also in a post on X, wrote: “Walk good, Mum. You will forever live in our hearts and in our memories. We miss and love you.”

At the same time, the People’s National Party (PNP), which Golding serves as president, said that Lady Patricia’s spirit, grace, and unwavering love will continue to live on in the hearts of all who knew her.

Lady Patricia, said the PNP, was “a symbol of quiet strength and dignity, deeply cherished by her family and respected by all those whose lives she touched”, including working with her late husband, Sir John Golding, in building a legacy of service and compassion.

“They worked hand in hand to better the lives of Jamaicans, most notably through their contribution to rehabilitative medicine with the establishment of the Mona Rehabilitation Centre, now known as the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre. Their partnership was a testament to their shared commitment to the well-being of others and the development of Jamaican society,” the PNP said.

In a 2020 interview Golding told the Observer that his mother’s first job was in the central planning unit when Norman Manley was premier of Jamaica, in the early 1960s. He said she left that job and spent the rest of her career essentially working as a volunteer.

Lady Patricia was born in England in 1931.

Christopher L Samuda, president of the Jamaica Paralympic Association, said in his tribute to her that “the Sir John Golding Centre (formerly the Mona Rehab Centre) was her life which, for many years, was also her ‘residence’, where she influenced and inspired many lives that were born abled with a difference, or being rehabilitated, and those who cared [for] and nurtured them as she did.

“[She was] a mother who understood family as meaning a community and a lady who gifted herself to humanity with an admirable conviction and integrity,” said Samuda.

“The Jamaica Paralympic Association salutes Lady Patricia Golding and expresses regrets to its former director, her son Mark Golding, his sister and her daughter, Anna Louise Mohammed, and their families.”