Mary Georgina Charles-George was born on 19 July 1913 to Henry Elijah Charles and Frances Ann nee Carey of Phillips Village. Both of her parents were skilled people who had grown up in the same village. Henry was a carpenter and Frances as a seamstress. Mary was their first child and they instilled in her a good work ethic and a great sense of pride.

As a child she attended the Estridge Moravian School and obtained her 7th Standard certificate then at the age of 13, she became a pupil teacher. Her father died in 1928 when Mary was only 15 years old. The family belonged to the Moravian congregation and the church facilitated her teacher’s training at the Spring Gardens Teachers Training College in Antigua by way of a scholarship. For about a year after graduation she was without a job but she offered her services to the same school that had initiated her education.

Mary Charles later taught at St. Paul’s, Trinity Palmetto Point, Molineux, and Cayon, taking on the role not only of teacher and head teacher but also of mentor and counsellor for many young persons and younger teachers. She strongly believed in solidarity within the profession and was involved Teachers Associations in St. Kitts as well as in the Caribbean Union of Teachers.

Miss Charles was also very community minded and often participated in the beautification of her village. She also took an active interest in the lives of youths. Then in 1957, following the death of her sister, she became the guardian of five nephews and still she continued to mentor others outside the home. Those who were not employed she assisted with the preparation of job applications. She encourage parents to consider sending their promising off-spring to study in England. She gave opportunities to girls who had become pregnant while still in school to do their final exams. While she believed strongly that youths should not waste their lives, she also realized that that sometimes they needed a helping hand whether this meant nudging a young woman to study nursing abroad or putting in a good word for a deserving person with a prospective employer.

Writing about his experiences at Trinity School, Sir Probyn Innis singled our Mary Charles as a teacher par-excellence “There was no formal Parent-Teacher Association at Trinity School at that time, but “Teacher Mary” had ways and means of reaching the parents to urge them to do what she considered to be the best for their children”. Even while on vacation in England, Charles continued her campaign to improve the prospects of young people in St. Kitts. When she came across parents who had gone to England leaving children with relatives, she encouraged them to send for their children believing that they would be better off with their parents. Many heeded her advice even if they had to do so, one child at a time.

Outside of school, Mary Charles was the moving force behind organizing the Molineux Cricket Club. She enjoyed a good game of cricket as long as the Sunday games were played after “Church Time”, that is not before one o’clock. She also organized the Christ Church Literary & Debating Society which exposed individuals to many cultural, social and educational events. There were regular club meetings which helped with the development of leadership skills; outings and picnics to places of interest and the fund-raising dances.

Mary Charles retired from the government service in 1970 and in the 1971 election, she became the first woman to present herself as a candidate in a general election in St. Kitts and Nevis. She ran on the ticket of the People’s Action Movement against a very popular candidate, E St. John Payne, of the Labour Party and lost. The following year she moved to the Virgin Islands where once again she joined the teaching profession. In 1975, she married Valdemar George and they settled in Christiansted. Mary Charles-George retired from teaching in 1978 and in 1979, she was made a life-time member of the Caribbean Union of Teachers In recognition of her many years of service to education, She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in the New Year’s Honours for 1985 and a hospital in Molyneux was named in her honour in 1986. Mary Charles-George died on the 18 March 2008

Yvonne May Stevens was born on the 28th May 1910 into the large family of James Henry Stevens and his wife Ethlinda Leonora nee Penn. Her father was at the time, the Master of the Leper Home in Sandy Point but by 1914 the family had moved to Nevis where he held the post of Assistant to the Surveyor on that island.

May grew up in a disciplined close-knit house hold that valued family and education. In her teens she developed an interest in nursing and was encouraged in her ambitions by her father. Mrs. Stevens however did not like the work and made her objections abundantly clear to her daughter. Young May would not be deterred and with her father’s support enrolled in the nursing programme at the Elizabeth Garett Anderson Hospital in London. This was a time when the position of Matron in the Caribbean was held by a British woman. May Stevens was determined to change all that. She completed her diploma as a State Registered Nurse and stayed in England during part of the war years to ensure she had a proper grounding in the profession. At the time London was under regular bombardment by the German Luftwaffe.

Miss Stevens returned to St. Kitts to take up the post of District Matron in 1942. This branch of nursing was still in its infancy on the island. In due course Stevens was employed as Matron at the Glendon Hospital in Montserrat. Then in 1949, she was appointed Matron of the Cunningham hospital in St. Kitts. She was the first person born in the Presidency of St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla to hold the position. This meant that Stevens was responsible for the day to day management of the hospital and the training of nurses. Because student nurses also functioned as members of staff, training was, at times, sporadic. To enable her to administer the final General Nursing examination locally, she was given the opportunity to attend a Sister Tutor’s Course at the Royal College of Nursing.

The discipline of her youth was reflected in her approach to her new job. She expected nurses to be professionally attired, and observant of hospital rules even if this meant the withdrawal of privileges formerly enjoyed by the upper classes of Society. She was also aware that her own performance was under a microscope and that there were those who were looking for excuses to criticize her skills and abilities. However she stuck to her course putting the interest of the patient first and the encouragement of her nursing staff a very close second. The education of nurses was a priority. In 1960 she worked with the Chief Education Officer to facilitate evening courses in Mathematics and English for nurses willing to sit the General Certificate of Education and she sought scholarships for staff nurses who showed leadership potential.

May Stevens’ whole life was centered on the hospital and she earned the respect of her staff, physicians, health workers, patients and the community in general. On retirement in 1967, Stevens returned to Nevis where she continued her involvement in healthcare through her work with the Red Cross. She was honored for her commitment to nursing in 1969 and in 1999.

Basil Ebenezer Henderson was born on 24 April 1924 to Ethel Augusta Paul. Young Basil grew up in the Catholic church and remained devoted to it all his life. He would become the social organizer par excellence. He put all his energy and determination into the projects he undertook often travelling from one end of the island to the other, at all hours whether he had his own transportation or had to use the bus.

Initially he put a lot of interest in sports. He was responsible for beginning village sporting activities; football, netball, cricket and table tennis. He was an outstanding footballer and even captained the Rivals Football Club as well as the St. Kitts and the Leeward Islands team. He served in the Defense Force and in later years did not hesitate to share his memories of the war days and his time as a soldier.

For most of his adult life, Henderson was a civil servant. In his teens he worked in the supply office and then went on to the Labour Department and later to the office of the Administrator. As Head Messenger he took great pride in making sure that communications in the Civil Service ran smoothly. However he was also a welfare officer with duties to begin councils in the villages in St. Kitts. This was started with Conaree, Keys and Mansion. His training in this field was also responsible for his starting a branch of the 4 H in St. Kitts in 1950. Many youths, especially in the rural areas were given opportunities to develop a wide variety of skills through their membership in the club. Many went on to fill leadership positions.

In 1951, Henderson organized the first Easter Parade and the first Aquatic Sports meet in the Bay Front. His interest in sports continued even when his participation as an athlete came to an end. He was always looking for new ways to engage the community. In 1957 he was responsible for launching the first Carnival. This was an activity meant to attract people to the island so Henderson may be said to have contributed to the tourism product. Steel pan was already evolving in St. Kitts but Basil Henderson started organizing the Bands into a Steel pan Association coordinating visits of Kittitian Steel Bands to other islands and assisting others to perform here as guests. He organized Best Village competitions to encourage community spirit and to make sure the island looked attractive. For the children he started the Christmas Tree lighting event in the Square and year after year he ensured that children of the not-so-privileged enjoyed a Christmas present from Father Christmas.

Henderson had a number of opportunities to go to England or the United States to develop himself. He took those that allowed him a chance to make a bigger contribution to St. Kitts. It was never about his career. John F Kennedy at his inauguration said, “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Basil Henderson lived by that principle till he passed on the7th of March 2003.

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Leonard Alphonso Harris, the son of Kenneth and May Rose Harris pf McKnight was born on the 3 September 1934. He was educated at the St. Joseph Catholic School then went on to work at the Sugar Factory. He moved to the Youth and Community Department where he worked as a truancy officer, making sure that children went to school and stayed off the streets and later was a sports officer and in this capacity received training as a coach at Loughborough University. He eventually tried a short stint in the Virgin Islands but an illness soon brought him back to St. Kitts.

It was in cricket that Len Harris made his name. It ran in the genes. Both his father and his brother Maurice were valuable players. Many still regard him as one of the best batsmen that St. Kitts ever produced. Some went so far as to say that he was one of the best cricketers never to play for the West Indies. Dwyer Astaphan wrote that the reason for this was that the both cricketers and administrators from the small islands were not taken seriously. Mikes as he was also known, was a “batting master with a confident .competitive and determined personality, good powers of concertation, excellent and quick footwork, exquisite, cutting and flicking skills of the highest order, an appetite for big scores and sound batting and cricket intelligence.” Certainly one of his performances for the Combined Leeward-Windward Islands against Guyana earned him the attention of the Trinidad press. Harris was also a useful swing and spin bowler and a world class fielder.

He first entered cricket at Progressive Club, moving on to St, George’s with the help of Wentworth ‘Natta’ Payne. There he continued to be an inspiring presence with an impish sense of humour and an appreciation for upcoming talent. Coming from a humble background he was often overlooked, until another player made it possible for him to get into the starting Eleven. His highest score was 218 not out against Antigua in 1968. In career Harris played against four international touring teams He captained the St. Kitts Team, that of the Leewards and also the Combined Islands. He demonstrated amazing concentration while the game was going on and great sportsmanship off the field.

Harris played football and did some running but the other area where he left his mark was in Calypso. As Lord Mike he sang One two three which became a big hit when sung by the Merry Men out of Barbados Big turkey kill little turkey, and St. Kitts is me bornin land which are still talked about as classics of Kittitian calypso.

Len Harris or Lord Mike was devastated by Alzheimer’s in later years and he died on the 16 March 2006. His sense of humour was still evident at that difficult time as was his strength of character. His pursuit of the game he loved so much was never dampened by the tough hand dealt to him at the international level and he remained an inspirational and motivating player throughout his career.