A life well lived

“Given how small Grenada is you will realise how unlikely it is for something like this to happen. When you have the United States of America and Europe in the competition it is unbelievable for Grenada to get gold and as I was watching it with family and friends and they all started to jump up, so did I,” Dame Hilda told Newsday, with the great enthusiasm she always displayed when it came to Grenada.

Although as Dr Hilda Bynoe, a medical doctor, she lived and practised in Trinidad for many, many years, she kept her spirit firmly rooted in her native homeland and the small village of Crochu where she was born and grew up, following its progress and development with a keen and discerning eye.

She served as Governor of Grenada during the stormy period of the rise of the New Jewel Movement which toppled the Gairy regime in a coup. She was Grenada’s first woman Governor and became the first woman governor in the Commonwealth. She was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth in 1969.

While studying medicine at the London School of Medicine for women in 1951, she met and married Trinidadian Peter Bynoe who was a Royal Air Force Officer and student of architecture. Their two sons, Roland and Michael were born in England. The Bynoes returned to Trinidad in 1953.

In 1968 Dr Hilda Bynoe was appointed Governor of Grenada by the Eric Gairy Government. She sailed from Trinidad to Grenada on a Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard vessel and was given a rousing welcome on arrival at St George’s as she returned to her native land as their new Governor.

In 1996 she published a book of poems I Woke at Dawn. In a foreword, her friend Gloria Valere, daughter of Sir Learie Constantine, wrote: “This collection of poems and short stories and vignettes represent the work of a lifetime of observing, noting and feeling. The author has had a rich and varied life and there are glimpses of the child, the student, the wife, the mother, the teacher, the doctor and the citizen.”

The book was officially launched by the late Sir Ellis Clarke, first President of Trinidad and Tobago. In July 1911, Dame Hilda was guest of honour at a celebration in Grenada to mark 50 years of the contribution of women to the political scene in the Caribbean.

Dame Hilda’s husband Peter pre-deceased her, and she is survived by her sons, Roland and Michael, granddaughters Olukemi and Nandi, great grand-daughter Anaia and her sister, Rosalind. Dame Hilda’s funeral takes place on Friday April 12 at St Finbar’s RC Church, Westmoorings.