Older Jamaicans like to use a rather epigrammatic quote: “The humblest calf sucks the most milk.” We suspect that nobody ever found it necessary to remind Mrs Dorothy Yvonne Pine-McLarty of that pearl of wisdom.

Yet, it was a humility that the poet Rudyard Kipling might have said of her in his oft-referenced phrase, “To walk with kings and keep the common touch” — a true exemplification of her life, which ended in the peace and quiet of home on Sunday.

There is something to be said for one who has spent the bulk of her 84 years in a single profession; in her case, as a practising attorney-at-law for more than 50 years. Indeed, that is evidence she had found her calling and a path through which she could serve and love her fellow man, love her country, and love her beautiful family.

It is our view that Mrs Pine-McLarty might be best remembered for her contribution to Jamaican democracy, through her service to the electoral process — now vaunted and copied elsewhere, but previously scarred and decrepit beyond measure.

Notably, she became the first woman to chair the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) in 2013, having joined its predecessor, the Electoral Advisory Committee, in December 2000, and served in that capacity until her retirement on December 31, 2019.

Her legacy will speak of her contribution to the oversight of multiple elections; the residence reverification project; the implementation of the Electronic Voter Identification System in selected polling stations; and the framing of political party registration and election campaign finance regulations.

As a trailblazer, Mrs Pine-McLarty became the first woman partner of that leading law firm, Myers, Fletcher & Gordon (MFG), serving as head of its Property Department from 1992 to 1995 and as managing partner of the firm’s London office from 1995 to 1998. She was also admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 1995.

A highly personal story to her and to British boxers unfolded while in London. She was instrumental in the firm’s representation of Jamaican-born British boxer Mr Michael Watson, who was struck down at ringside in a boxing contest and needed urgent medical attention. The landmark victory won him £1 million, but, importantly, resulted in the British Boxing Board of Control mandating paramedics and an ambulance at its tournaments.

In December 2021 she was honoured by the Jamaican Bar Association for her expansive national service, including the ECJ and for her leadership of MFG UK.

Mrs Pine-McLarty served for years as a member of the board of Jamaica National Group. She also served her two alma maters, as a board member of Ferncourt High and St Andrew High School for Girls.

She was a member of the finance committee of the University of Technology, Jamaica; chairperson of the Access to Information Appeals Tribunal; and was a very active member of the Methodist Church for which she was lauded in 2014.

Inevitably, Mrs Pine-McLarty was vested into the Order of Jamaica in 2007 for outstanding public service, and in 2019 she received an honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean.

We join a grateful nation in expressing our deepest condolence to her family — husband, Herman; daughter Rachel and son Matthew.

May the soul of The Honourable Dorothy Pine-McLarty rest in peace, and light perpetual shine upon her.