"The roads were long and dusty. We drove miles every day and ate dried salt fish and crackers with cream soda, and she was there beside me."

Alexander Bustamante was never one to hide his emotions about anything - politics, trade union relations, the battle against colonialism or a new vision for Jamaica. Some say he gilded the lily in his colourful interpretations, but it mattered not what anyone thought. He held to his ideals and opinions, none more firmly than when he spoke about the woman who was the undoubted love of his life.

His anecdotes about the inconvenience of the long dusty roads travelled in 1938 were as much a tribute to the spirit of the times as they were to the woman who travelled with him, not flinching from the hardships they met, not then, and not in the years to come when he had to face even greater challenges of leadership. It was that courage and loyalty which she displayed, that he was proud to celebrate and share unabashedly.

Caught and carried the vision

As the nation mourns today the passing of Gladys Longbridge - Lady Bustamante, the question could be asked: Why her life has to be defined by her late husband's? That was the life she lived by choice. From her early days as his secretary, to her elevation as an officer of the national institutions which he led - the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union and the Jamaica Labour Party and then as the wife of the first prime minister of Independent Jamaica - she seems to have caught the vision that Alexander Bustamante had for Jamaica and so worked tirelessly alongside him to see its fulfilment.

Her personal commitment to Busta survived the social strictures of the times and she carried herself with dignity, being the consummate lady even before her long-awaited marriage and the title of Lady Bustamante. It is that lady who Jamaica quite rightly honours today.

Mother to many

When she finally retired from active service to Bustamante's union and party, she moved effortlessly and gracefully to do the things which brought her pleasure - her garden, her music, her time devoted to friends and family and the many young persons whom she adopted as much as they adopted her. She was a mother to many, helping to bring them into education and accomplishment. She was loyal to her political ideals, but generous-minded enough to interact well with persons of contending political views.

Her friendship with the late Edna Manley, widow of N.W. Manley, Bustamante's cousin and political adversary, was not much highlighted, but could be emulated as these two women, widows of once fiercely contending political opponents, found solace in each other's company. It is these qualities which earned her the affection of all Jamaica. She has died as she lived, quietly and beloved, leaving behind memories of her service to her God and this country and the unqualified respect and admiration of a nation to whom she will always remain - Lady B.

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