The People’s National Congress Reform today expressed its sympathy at the passing of Professor Joycelynne Eleanor Loncke, AA, CCH, on Friday 24th December 2021 at the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.
The party noted that Dr. Loncke was the last surviving child of renowned musicians, Percival and Ivy Loncke.
The PNCR said that’s Loncke will be remembered as a Guyanese academic who was a Professor Emeritus of the University of Guyana where her areas of interest included both French literature and the history of music.
The party noted that she was was a member of a prominent musical family; a number of her relatives studied overseas and then returned to Guyana to teach or perform. She completed her undergraduate education at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Mona, Jamaica, and chose to study French due to UWI’s lack of a music programme, but continued receiving private lessons.
The PNCR said that Loncke lectured at UWI for a period, but eventually returned to her homeland to take up a position in the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Guyana. She served for periods as Head of department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, eventually being made a Professor Emeritus in 2010. The PNCR said that she’s maintained her interest in music, and oversaw the introduction of the university’s first music curriculum. She was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement (1980) and the Cacique’s Crown of Honour (1987) by the Guyana government.
