The Chief Librarian at the National Library, Gillian Thompson, succumbed following an accident yesterday at the corner of New Garden Street and North Road.
Reports are that Thompson, 47, of 3276 Postal and Telecoms Workers Housing Scheme, North Ruimveldt, was travelling along North Road in a company minibus, when a white car, proceeding along New Garden Street at a fast rate, collided with the vehicle. She died on the spot.
Stabroek News was told that a police vehicle had been chasing the white car. Up to press time the police had not issued a statement on the accident.
The driver of the vehicle Thompson was travelling in, John Beveney, 41, suffered a broken leg and is in the Georgetown Public Hospital. The occupants of the white car, which landed in a nearby trench, were not seriously injured. Sources say that the driver of the white motor car has been taken into police custody.
Speaking with Stabroek News, Thompson’s elder sister said that she was at home when she received a phone call around 2pm. The caller, she said, informed her that her sister had been involved in an accident at New Garden Street.
She added that she at first did not believe the caller but nevertheless decided to call her brother who informed her that he was at the Georgetown Public Hospital and had already identified the body.
At GPH, staffers of the National Library and family members turned up in large numbers and were overwhelmed with grief. One of Thompson’s staff members fainted twice while family members wept uncontrollably.
In a statement last evening, the Ministry of Education expressed condolences.
collided with the National Library’s minibus
“The Ministry of Education expresses sincere condolences to the family, friends and staff of the National Library, on the passing of the Chief Librarian, Ms. Gillian Thompson. Gillian worked at the National Library for just over two decades, beginning on November 1, 1991. In 2004 she became the Chief Librarian and worked tirelessly until her untimely passing on December 24, 2013.
“A consummate professional who dedicated her time, energy, and professional training in library science towards the advancement of reading in Guyana, Gillian would be dearly missed not only by her family, but by her colleagues and friends at the National Library and those from within education fraternity”, the statement said.
