In 2005 Ambassador Madge Barrett told this newspaper that her tenure as Jamaica’s consul general in Miami was the pinnacle of her career in Jamaica’s foreign service.

Barrett had accepted an offer, made in 1991 by then Foreign Minister David Coore, to become the country’s top envoy in that American city.

“It was a good move and it became the high point of my stay in the foreign service,” Barrett told Jamaica Observer Founding Editor and current Executive Editor, Special Assignment Desmond Allen.

Barrett was the subject of the award-winning journalist’s Desmond Allen Interviews series.

Allen reported that at the time Barrett had been expecting to get the job as director of protocol but that went to Cecile Clayton, who was returning home from an overseas assignment.

From the Miami consulate Barrett had oversight responsibility for all the southern states of the United States and quickly won the support of the large number of Jamaican groups there — 25 in South Florida alone — with her message of unity.

In 1994, then Prime Minister PJ Patterson, through Dr Paul Robertson, the then foreign minister, called Barrett home to take over as director of the ministry’s Protocol Department. It was familiar territory to which she brought such style, elegance and professionalism that she became known as the ‘Queen of Protocol’ or ‘Miss Protocol’.

Last Friday, Barrett died on her 87th birthday, closing the chapter on a life of distinction in the foreign service that saw her walking in stride with some of the world’s riches and most famous. Among them were England’s Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles, and Prime Minister Tony Blair; United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan; Cuban President Fidel Castro; South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki; Nigerian President Olesugun Obasanjo; Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe; the prince and princess of Japan, and a host of other leaders, including Caribbean prime ministers.

“I found Madge to be thorough in the area of protocol, which she served with distinction until her retirement,” Wilton Dyer, who retired some years ago as head of the foreign ministry’s Media and Public Affairs Unit, told the Observer on Thursday.

“In her down moments she possessed a very good sense of humour and would always provide an interesting array of anecdotes,” Dyer added, even as he admitted that there were other foreign ministry colleagues more qualified to speak in detail about Barrett, who was vested with the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD) for outstanding service.

After her retirement in 2002 she offered consultancy in protocol in her private capacity and wrote a regular social column for the Observer.

On March 8, 2012, International Women’s Day, Barrett was among 50 women recognised for having made significant contributions to Jamaica’s development.

Known for her meticulous attention to detail as well as her impeccable sense of style, Barrett, in a 2011 interview with the Observer, revealed the foundation of her penchant for elegance.

“I cannot go without my red MAC lipstick and earrings, which I think I inherited from my mother who would always be well-dressed, even when working at home. I also love necklaces,” she said, adding that she preferred “well-fitted, elegant clothing”.

Asked which member of the Royal family impressed her most for their fashion sense, Barrett said, “The late Princess Diana; she was always well-attired.”

In the Desmond Allen Interview Barrett spoke of the 1975 Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Kingston, saying it stood out in her memory mostly because the work put in by her and the foreign ministry team resulted in the conference, attended by some of the world’s most known leaders, being a huge success, resulting in Jamaica receiving accolades.

A lightly edited version of that Desmond Allen Interview is published on Pages 23 to 25 of today’s edition.