Olivene Elfreda Louise Chambers (21 April 1925 – May 2019, née Patterson) was a Jamaican educator.
Early life and education
Chambers was born on 21 April 1925 in Bunker's Hill, Trelawny Parish, Jamaica. Her father was a butcher and farmer, and her mother a seamstress. She attended Unity All-Age School and Bethlehem Teachers' College, and began her teaching career in the mid-1940s at Tweedside Primary School. She studied independently for A-level examinations and then gained a degree in education at the University of the West Indies in 1951.
She married Alvin S. Chambers on 15 April 1953, and they moved to Brown's Town, Saint Ann Parish, a year later.
Career
Chambers taught at Browns Town Primary School, where by 1968 she was supervising trainee teachers on one-year internships from colleges around the island. In 1971 she was a senior lecturere in English at Moneague Teachers' College,and the following year she was awarded a year's scholarship to study reading and curriculum development at Carleton University in Canada. In 1973 she was appointed as head teacher at Brown's Town Secondary School, now Brown's Town High School, and held that post until 1978. During her time there she implemented a two-shift system to enable the school to cope with rising student numbers.
After retirement Chambers remained an active member of her church, Brown's Town Baptist Church.
Recognition and awards
Chambers was honoured with several awards including the Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation for Service in Education (1983), the Merit Award for Service to Education from Jamaica Baptist Union (1989), and Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Award for dedicated service to the teaching profession (1994).
References
- ^ Green-Stewart, Sandria (2016). "Chambers, Olivene Elfreda Louise (1925– )". In Knight, Franklin W.; Gates, Henry Louis (eds.). Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American biography. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-061439-3.
- "Browns Town High School". www.facebook.com. 10 May 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
Condolence to the families of former principal Olivine Chambers and ...
External links
- Tribute at Chambers' funeral on YouTube
- "Don't Scatter Roses…". Homeland of the Nomad. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2024. A blog account of an appreciation service at Chambers' church at which she was an awardee: includes a photograph of Chambers
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