Category Archives: Tributes

Tributes delivered by professor Errol Miller

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A Pastor to a Global Village

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A Tribute to Rev. Dr. Alfred Bryan Johnson

Reverend Dr. Alfred Bryan Johnson was senior pastor, village pastor, ambassador to the global village, Biblical scholar, author, fluent in three modern languages, teacher of New Testament Greek, celebrated missionary, respected educator, effective community organizer, a good friend to many, caring son and brother, loving grandfather, father, and husband, but most of all faithful servant and witness of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Alfred Bryan Johnson’s chosen lifestyle was that of a non-pretentious ordinary person. He was of above-average height, but his physical stature was not imposing. These disguised the fact that, by the grace of God, Freddie was an extraordinary human being by any standard. The proof was knowing him.

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Ethel Victoria Leslie-Campbell Remembrance

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Ethel Victoria Leslie-Campbell,

nicknamed Birdie by her family, but ‘Queen Bee’ by her students, was royal in bearing, regal in deportment and always stylishly dressed. While not of the manor born, there could be no question that she was a lady of class. In conversation and lifestyle she demonstrated a deft mixture of confidence, composure and humility in all circumstances.

Born on July 31, 1917 in Haddo Westmoreland she was the daughter of Isaac Leslie businessman and Jane Leslie housewife. When she came of age to go to school the Haddo School, the land of which her grandfather had given to the Board of Education was closed temporarily, so she went to school at Coke’s View All Age which was three miles away and remained there even when the Haddo School was re-opened. She told the story, with some a mischievous twinkle in the eye, that she often rode a donkey to school, which drew some less than complimentary comments from some of the other students. Continue reading →

Tribute to Amy Miller

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Amy Miller was special.

An educator with a lifetime of success she arrived at the Institute of Education as Secretary of the Joint Board of Teacher Education, just after retiring from St Josephs Teachers College as a Principal Lecturer. The Joint Board at that time was operating on a shoe-string. The Office was a medium size Seminar Room. The staff consisted of the Secretary, Amy, and three junior staff members. The magnitude of the tasks to be done could not be more unfavorably matched with the meagreness of the resources available to carry them out. This is no way deterred Mrs. Amy Miller. Continue reading →

Sydney Morris Tribute

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Sydney Morris

was not a small man in either statute or spirit. Indeed, Sydney Morris was a big man in both size and heart. He was a gentleman and also a gentleman. Knowing Sydney Morris was to be given the opportunity to get a rare glimpse into a world of sensitivity and dignity that is sadly and slowing disappearing from our world today.

In his passing, it is his presence which will be most remembered. Soft-spoken and generous, knowledgeable yet humble, he approached his students and his colleagues with respect and conveyed to all with whom he came in contact a love and appreciation of the art form which had sustained him for all of his life. With his impeccable good manners, he never forgot the niceties of his training and exuded such modesty and quiet dignity that even those given to boisterous and raucous ways were invariably calm and disarmed. Continue reading →

Tribute to Rupert Gallimore

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Rupert Anthony Gallimore,

first visited Bethel Baptist Church in 1958 when he came to Kingston, from his native St Ann. In this regard, he was following in the footsteps of his older brother Gerry and their cousin Miss Olga Coke. Upon confession of faith in our Lord Jesus, he was baptized and became a member of Bethel in 1959. At that time Bethel was a small fledgling church of just five years. Further, before Rupert’s arrival, the small pastor-less church became even smaller when it took the decision to join the Jamaica Baptist Union. Some of the more experienced members left because the JBU was a member of the Baptist World Alliance that was affiliated with World Council of Churches which had connections that they did not approve of. Continue reading →