Former William Knibb principal ‘brought out the best’ in students
Tributes flow for Margarett Lee at thanksgiving service
FOR 28 years, Margarett Lee moulded lives at William Knibb Memorial High School (WKMHS) in Trelawny. At her thanksgiving service, those who had grown through shared experiences paid some lovely tributes about an aunt, a mathematics teacher, a sport-loving disciplinarian who rose through the ranks to become principal of the institution that provides a lovely backdrop of purple, green and white from the highway overlooking Martha Brae.
Lee joined the staff as a mathematics teacher in 1975 when the school operated out of the old Baptist Manse on Market Street in Falmouth. Over the years, she moved through the ranks and ended at retirement as the school’s longest-serving principal, a position she held for 21 years.
Her journey at WKMHS may be viewed as destiny, following her migration from Linstead, St Catherine, to the Trelawny parish in western Jamaica.
Born August 31, 1942, Lee married Basil Lee on July 25, 1974 and the couple moved at first to Friendship, in Trelawny, before moving on to nearby Salt Marsh, where Basil was principal of Salt Marsh Primary School.
“Apart from being principal, Basil was a pastor. The visits from other pastors and their entourage gave Margarett the opportunity to show how great she was at entertaining guests,” shared Atherine Lee, as she gave what she termed “a snippet” of her aunt, in tribute.
For years, the couple lived together with their adopted child, Obrian Lee, with whom they had created an inseparable relationship from the time he was a toddler, by taking him almost everywhere they went, while adapting to life in their new environment. Years on, Obrian passed in a traffic accident, which tested the Lee’s resolve.
Commenting on Margarett Lee’s qualities of adaptation, the Reverend Devere Nugent, a WKMHS past student who now serves as the school’s chaplain, likened her to a “rose” while delivering the sermon at the William Knibb Baptist Church in Falmouth recently.
“The rose blooms and gives off its fragrance wherever it is planted,” said Nugent. “Margarett Lee bloomed where she was planted and made the lives around her better.
“Oh for teachers of today to be like her,” the self-proclaimed ‘loudmouthed’ preacher exclaimed. “Margarett Lee was an unashamed, forgiving teacher. She was a great Christian woman, who believed that if you cannot forgive you are placing yourself above God.”
Privileged to have absorbed her essence and beauty, WKMHS alumni Lorna Jackson, Ellis Laing and noted footballer Gerald ‘Hero’ Scott, who went on to represent Jamaica, memorised their interactions.
“I remember in our fourth form days, almost everybody feared maths. By the time we got to fifth form her calm approach to the subject removed all the fear. Some like myself became teachers and also taught maths,” recounted Lorna Jackson, who moved from being a student to principal (former) at WKMHS.
Representing the Alumni Association, Ellis Laing shared: “Mrs Lee was a disciplinarian who stood her ground. She was compassionate and gave of herself.
“She was committed to bringing out the best in her students. I speak from experience,” said Laing.
Scott is one of the most revered daCosta Cup footballers to have represented the Martha Brae-based institution.
Reminding of his experience, he told The Gleaner: “As the stars of the school it got to the head of some of the players and they became miscreants. On one occasion when a few of us got misled, she called the whole team to a meeting. To this day very few knew who had misbehaved.
“She lectured us on our responsibility to the school and our community at large. We all came out of that meeting remembering her charge to us,” said Scott.
Examples of Lee’s bold, forthright approach were also shared by VicePrincipal Webster Thompson, who referenced her influence in the Shakespearean line, ‘cowards die many times before their death’.
“Margarett Lee was no coward. She showed her bravery when she employed a visually impaired teacher to teach English ,” Thompson recalled. “This caused much consternation among teachers, students and parents. They have all eaten their words of disapproval as this decision proved to be a master one because this teacher proved to be a great one.”
The VP went on to evoke laughter from the mixed congregation in a reflection on Lee’s sporting prowess.
“She walked slowly and elegantly in her signature African headwrap on the corridors. This lover of sports was a different person on sports day,” said Thompson. “Her entry into the female staff 100-metre race drew spectators. She never lost any of those races. All the other entrants became the laughing stock for the day.”
Lee passed away on November 22, 2021.
Atherine, herself a teacher, announced that in her aunt’s honour and owing to her dedicated service to education, the Margarett Lee Foundation will be established.
“This will facilitate a centre for the teaching of mathematics,” she revealed.