Rotary Sunrise celebrates birthdays at The Pines
Olive Miller with some of her Earlyact visitors
(CNS Local Life): Members of Rotary Sunrise together with youngsters from George Town Primary School’s Earlyact Club recently visited The Pines Retirement Home to help celebrate November birthdays of residents. Included among the celebrants was Olive Miller, marking her 96th birthday, who now lives in the home she helped convince government to build; The Pines opened in 1983.
After living in her own villa at The Pines, Miss Olive moved into the main residence early this year. During the celebration, she recalled some of the many organisations she helped found, stated a press release. In 1949 she helped the Rev. George Hicks start the Cayman Islands High School, now John Gray. She is one of the founding members of the NCVO (National Council of Volunteer Organisations) and the Pink Ladies Volunteer Corps, both of which she still attends on a regular basis.
First arriving from Jamaica via England in 1946, Miss Olive was a youth missionary for the Presbyterian Church, now known in Cayman as the United Church. She married a man from North Side in 1953 and left for England, but came back to Cayman to stay in 1958.
She worked for 25 years as a lay magistrate in the Youth Court, during which time she started the first preschools on the island and helped create children’s playgrounds. Miss Olive was the country’s first paid news reporter, working for the Trade Winds Newspaper, which became the Caymanian Weekly in 1971. From 1971 to 1982 she was the government’s first information officer.
Her awards include Queen’s Certificate and badge of honour (1967), Member of the British Empire (1977), one of Cayman’s five Distinguished Women of History – and only living recipient (2003), and Golden Apple Lifetime Achievement Award (2009) for her dedication to education.
Rotary’s Community Service Committee directors said they were happy to see the smiles on the faces of the residents and staff at The Pines at the celebration, stated the press release. “It was a pleasure celebrating Ms Olive’s birthday and showing our appreciation to the staff for all their hard work,” they said.
Category: Service Organisations
