Committed, dedicated and “an inspiring person” was how Sister of Mercy, historian and former University of Guyana lecturer Mary Noel Menezes, who died early yesterday morning, is being remembered.
The 92-year-old Sister Noel, who according to Bishop Francis Alleyne was ailing for a long time, died at home.
Recognising her “wonderful contribution to history” Bishop Alleyne shared that her work brought into people’s awareness the important “element of our heritage”. He said she was a “committed and dedicated” individual.
Former colleague and Emeritus Professor, Winston McGowan, in a comment to Stabroek News said that it was Sister Noel’s leadership and example that resulted in the History Department at the University of Guyana being an exemplary one.
“Her extended research on the Amerindians and Portuguese made her an authority on those areas of Guyanese History,” he said.
And it was her “positive influence” according to Professor McGowan, on others that helped to “foster a culture of research which led to various publications”.
“She was a kind and compassionate person whose warmth and genuine care for others left an indelible mark on her colleagues and students. It was a pleasure to have worked with Sis. Noel who not only taught a generation of historians and other scholars but has left a wonderful legacy,” he ended.
And Portugal’s Honorary Consul to Guyana Michael O. Correia, Jnr said that Sister Noel “made such an enormous contribution to our country as a Historian, Teacher and Social Worker”. He noted that she chronicled the arrival of Guyanese of Portuguese descent from Madeira, perhaps more comprehensively than any other person.
In announcing Sister Noel’s death the Catholic Media of Guyana shared that she entered the sisters of Mercy community in Dallas, Pennsylvania, USA in 1947 and took her vows as a Religious Sister in 1950.
“She made a significant contribution to Guyana as professor of history at the University of Guyana for 23 years. From 1968 to 2003, Sr Noel ran the St John Bosco Orphanage in Plaisance, for boys aged three to sixteen. In 2000, she founded the Mercy Boys’ Home in Georgetown for boys older than 16. She also served on the council of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital from 1985 to 2002,” the statement said.
Sister Noel, a former history lecturer at the UG, in 2017 at the age of 87 launched her last book entitled ‘Guyana and the Wider World’, which featured a collection of her essays and addresses.
Sister Noel who was born in 1930, was a nun, Emeritus Professor of History, philanthropist, author and recipient of the country’s second highest National Award, the Order of Roraima as well as the Golden Arrow of Achievement.
Most of her life as an academic was spent at the University of Guyana. After teaching for two years at colleges in the United States of America in the mid-1960s, she joined the UG staff in September 1967 and served there until her retirement 23 years later in 1990.
‘Most stimulating’
Writing in the Stabroek News in 2005 Professor McGowan, said that among her achievements was the enviable reputation that she gained, as being one of the institution’s most stimulating and engrossing teachers. “Moreover, Sister, an efficient, creative, fearless administrator, served as head of the Department of History for nine years (1977-1986), transforming this hitherto humdrum department into one of the finest departments in the entire university,” he had written.
In 1973 she initiated the university’s first Master’s Degree Programme – a M.A. in Guyanese and West Indian History. She served as the Chief Co-ordinator of this programme for 17 years, from its inception to her retirement in 1990.
In that capacity she trained a new generation of professional Guyanese historians including Dr. James Rose, Dr. David Chanderbali and Tota Mangar.
Sister Noel was one of UG’s leading researchers and most prolific writers. Her research greatly enhanced knowledge especially of two areas in Guyanese history in which she became the recognised authority. These areas are the history of the Amerindians, the subject of her doctoral dissertation at the University of London in England from 1970 to 1973, and the history of the Portuguese.
She produced four books on these two subjects, namely, British Policy Towards the Amerindians in British Guiana, 1803-1873 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977); The Amerindians in Guyana 1803-1873. A Documen-tary History (London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd., 1979); Scenes from the History of the Portuguese in Guyana (London: The Author, 1986); and The Portuguese of Guyana: A Study in Culture and Conflict (Gujurat: The Anand Press, 1992).
Two other of her numerous publications are particularly cherished by students. Her book, The Amerindians and the Europeans is one of the most informative sources of knowledge for this popular theme in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) Caribbean History syllabus. Secondly, her Guide to Historical Research, later revised with a new title, How To Do Better Research, continues to be an invaluable guide especially to university students in all disciplines on research methodology.
McGowan said as well that her growing stature as a historian received special recognition on three occasions in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The first occasion was in 1978 when she became the first female president of the Association of Caribbean Historians, the regional body of historians founded in 1968. She served in that capacity for two years. Secondly, in 1980 she was promoted to the position of Professor of History at U.G., the first holder of this post. Finally, in 1981, she was appointed a member of the Drafting Com-mittee of UNESCO’s General History of the Caribbean.
Her most demanding philanthropic work was her 35 years of service at the St. John Bosco Orphanage in Plaisance, where she lived and was in charge for most of this period. She had visited the Mahaica Hospital for patients suffering from Hansen’s Disease regularly for many years and also served at the Cheshire Home in Mahaica for twenty years from 1981 to 2001.
Among her many other acts of public service are the following: a member of the Council of Management of the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital from 1985-2002; a member of the Heritage Society from 1985 to the present; a member of the Advisory Committee of the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education (CODE) from 1989 to the present; and a Member of the Advisory Council of Guyana’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2002.
In 2005 she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) by the University of the West Indies St Augustine Campus. It was the second occasion that she had been the recipient of such an honour. The first occasion was in 1983 when her Alma Mater, the College Misericordia in Dallas, Pennsylvania, where she completed a B.A. Degree in History in 1964, conferred on her a Doctorate of Humane Letters.
