President underscores importance of older persons at launch of Carmen Jarvis’ autobiography

Last Updated on Thursday, 6 October 2016, 6:34 by Denis Chabrol

President David Granger Wednesday evening attended the launch of an autobiography of 91-year old Ms. Carmen Jarvis entitled “From Seedtime to Harvest”.

The book’s title was adopted from the lyrics of The Bishop’s High School’s song where she was a student and later head teacher. The event was held at the Georgetown Club.

Delivering brief remarks, President Granger shared fond recollections of a young Ms. Jarvis, a former Head of the Guyana National Commission for UNESCO, with whom he worked in the 1990s on two publications; the ‘Guyana Historical Journal’ and the ‘History Gazette’. He said that without her support these publications would never have been printed.

“Ms. Jarvis is what would be described in modern day parlance as an iconic Guyanese. I think when we consider some of the reverses that we have faced we are very grateful for that generation of persons, who were born in the 1920s because they transmitted certain values and standards some of which have been lost…were it not for them Guyana would have been a very different place,” he was quoted as saying in a Ministry of the Presidency statement.

Meanwhile, Professor Dr. Vibert Cambridge spoke about the Guyana 50^th Anniversary Literary Celebration, which was held in May 2016, which sought to encourage the launch of biographies and autobiographies in Guyana much like what was penned by Ms. Jarvis.

“From Seedtime to Harvest is a valuable contribution to our understanding of contemporary Guyanese history. It is a multi-dimensional and textured work. It contributes to our understanding of the peopling of Guyana, especially people of Barbadian ancestry,” he said.

Mrs. Jarvis thanked those who contributed to the completion of her book, particularly her daughter, who assisted in the typing and former Guyana Ambassador to UNESCO Dr. David Dabydeen with whom she shared a close working relationship for many years and who wrote the preface of her book. She donated copies of the book to the National Library, the Guyana Girls Guide and the University of Guyana.