OVER the past 62 years Jamaica has been blessed with exceptional citizens who have excelled in advancing the country’s interest or promoting us on the world stage.

Ambassador Madge Barrett, who passed on November 15 — the 87th anniversary of her birth — is easily on that impressive list of individuals whose contributions have earned Jamaica the reputation as a country that punches well above its weight globally.

The irony of Ambassador Barrett’s first steps towards the foreign service is not lost on us. As Mr Desmond Allen, the founding editor of this newspaper, reported in his
Desmond Allen Interviews series, she was just under two years into her studies at Commercial Academy when her father, Mr Dudley Fairman, succumbed to cancer in 1963, at age 57.

At the time she was 19 years old and the tragedy, which also robbed her of the ability to stay in school, forced her to take a job as a typist with accounting and auditing firm AE McCallum in downtown Kingston.

Some years later, after responding to a newspaper advertisement, she landed a job in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, planting the seed of what blossomed into an illustrious career that, as Mr Allen pointed out in his story, saw her walking side by side with some of the world’s most powerful men and women. Among them were members of Britain’s royal family — Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Phillip, and Prince Charles; former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan; now late Cuban President Fidel Castro; South Africa’s second democratic President Thabo Mbeki; Nigerian President Olesugun Obasanjo; Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe (now deceased); the prince and princess of Japan, and a host of other leaders, including Caribbean prime ministers.

Of significant note was her contribution to the successful staging of the ommonwealth Heads of Government Conference in Kingston in 1975, as well as the service she provided while stationed at the Jamaican embassy in Washington, DC, and as consul general in Miami.

Anyone with knowledge of the demands faced by people in the foreign service will tell you that it takes a special type of individual to do that job. It requires strength of mind and character, willingness to compromise, sound judgment, but most important, a deep commitment to public service.

That Ambassador Barrett possessed all those qualities was never in doubt. Therefore, it was not surprising that the Jamaican Government saw it fit to make her a member of the Order of Distinction in the rank of Commander (CD), the country’s fifth-highest national honour, after which she was crowned with the title Ambassador Special Envoy.

This newspaper is particularly honoured that after her retirement in 2002 Ambassador Barrett chose to write a weekly column for
us, titled Out and About, in which she shared her vast knowledge on etiquette and highlighted developments on the social scene.

Naturally, the weight of her name, coupled with her experience, made the column popular because readers, we believe, regarded it as more than a source of information, they accepted it as an avenue for self-development.

The verdict among people who knew Ambassador Barrett is that she served this country with distinction. We are, indeed, grateful.