Below is a statement issued by the PNCR today on the passing of Joyce Hoyte
“Joyce Noreen De Freitas was born on the 30th November, 1934 and grew up in Georgetown, the capital of then British Guiana. She was fortunate to have had a good childhood while growing up in Russell Street, Charlestown and later she blossomed into an attractive and sociable young woman. Even in her youth she was to display qualities of alertness and mental quickness which were to characterize most of her life. Joyce De Freitas joined the then British Guiana Telephone and Telegraph Company where she not only did her work proficiently but also created a wide circle of friends of all ethnic backgrounds.
“In 1965, Joyce De Freitas married Hugh Desmond Hoyte, who was at the time a rising Attorney. Desmond Hoyte was to join the People’s National Congress in 1968 and this decision was to change his life and that of Joyce Hoyte forever. Joyce Hoyte was to learn that being the wife of a politician was a particularly exacting job and required a shrewd understanding of the development of her husband’s career and the incessant demand on his time. She also understood that this would also have an impact on the lives of their two children, Maxine and Amanda. It is a tribute to Mrs. Hoyte’s capacity to learn quickly; that she recognized that a politician’s life in Guyana is a particularly difficult one; that she made the required adjustment and became a loyal and devoted wife. It can be said without fear of contradiction that she provided the domestic environment in which Desmond Hoyte could find himself and pursue his political career without hindrance.
“Mrs. Hoyte would relate later in life that her husband’s appointment as Prime Minister in 1984 made her apprehensive. In hindsight it seems that her fears were justified. For approximately a year after her husband’s appointment the vehicle in which she was traveling to a May Day Rally in Linden, was involved in an accident, as a result of which she lost her only two children, Maxine and Amanda. She herself was badly hurt and only regained consciousness in a hospital in Cuba. This tragedy did not stop her. Mrs. Hoyte reached deep down within herself and despite her injuries played the role of First Lady with poise and graciousness after her husband became President in August 1985. As First Lady she supported the work of her husband as President and was at his side as he visited communities in various parts of the country and on diplomatic visits abroad. She also engaged in charitable work and cared for the young as well as the elderly and the less fortunate amongst us.
“The tragedy of the death of her children, her own injuries, and the death of her sisters here in Guyana and New York and finally the death of her husband would have reduced any other individual to inactivity and despair. But displaying a will of steel and a sense of purpose Mrs. Hoyte carried on, protecting the legacy of her husband and making her quiet contribution to the development of the Party he led and the country he loved.
“And so departs a former First Lady of grace, resilience and pride. Her friends and associates will miss her, her family will miss her and the nation as a whole will miss her.”
