By Jeff Trotman
The family and friends of the late Dr Walter Alleyne Kyte held a memorial on Saturday, December 21, at the Kairuni Creek bridge on the Linden-Soesdyke highway where the New York-based educator was involved in an accident on Sunday, August 25.
The minibus in which he was a passenger crashed and turned turtle and was partly submerged in the creek. Kyte subsequently died from injuries he sustained.
The “Drive Safely” memorial marker was laid at the site of the accident as a solid reminder to everyone who passes it, to slow down, drive safely, and be a defensive, not offensive driver. The marker reflects Dr Kyte’s name, date of birth, and date of death. Born March 29, 1946, Kyte died on September 5, 2013, in a Florida hospital.
Kyte’s niece, Donette Dennis-Austin, in a brief address at the simple memorial ceremony, said her uncle was a man who advocated social change via the educational platform. “He epitomized both a fine product of Guyana and what the true American dream looks like,” she said.
His widow, Jennifer Kyte, was unable to travel from the USA to participate in the ceremony. Noel Moses, a Brooklyn-based educator, speaking on her behalf, noted that she was a native of Mackenzie and a former athlete.
Moses also brought greetings from Dr Marguerite Thompson of the Allied Organisation of which Kyte was a member and from the Linden Fund, USA, where Kyte was a board member.
“My brother and friend came to Guyana on an educational mission, to work with teachers and leaders in education in Linden, when the accident occurred and he eventually succumbed to his injuries. He died giving of his service to others. He died doing what he loved best,” Moses said.
“At one of two memorials in Brooklyn NY Seventh Day Adventist church, State Councilman Charles Barron announced that a street in Brownsville, the district where Dr Kyte worked as a principal and superintendent, will be named after him.”
Moses said Kyte had suggested earlier this year that a state-of-the-art school be built in Linden to address the needs of the present and unborn student population and produce graduates ready to meet the challenges of the global community.
A week before his death, he had made a plaque for Jeanette Campbell, who hails from the Philippines, in recognition of the work she is doing in Linden for children. During the exercise, Kyte’s niece presented the plaque to Campbell.
Apart from her brief address in which she stressed that her uncle was a light in this world, Mrs. Dennis-Austin lighted a candle as a symbol that he really was a light wherever he went. She expressed the hope
“that this location will not continue with the trajectory of really awful deaths because of negligence”.
Some years earlier, world-rated Guyanese boxer, Andrew Murray, lost his life in a motor vehicular accident at the same location.
Two other persons lost their lives in the accident in the accident that took Kyte’s: a 23-year-old mother of two, Anastasia Cole of Ituni; and a 6-week-old baby, Taquayyah Shepard.
The accident occurred one day after Kyte had arrived in the country to facilitate in a Linden Fund USA-sponsored three-day teachers’ workshop.
The New York-based educator did not receive his luggage on arrival in the country and he was travelling to Georgetown to collect it from his brother.
