President hails Carmen Jarvis as a ‘twenties’ woman

– during memorial service

President David Granger has hailed the late Carmen Jarvis as a ‘twenties’ woman who could not be restrained and who shattered the proverbial glass ceiling in her quest for knowledge and independence.
“Carmen, in private and public life, was no hot-headed revolutionary. She quietly, however, refused to be constrained by backward conventions which limited women’s achievement. She overcame those obstacles, driven by a calm but insatiable quest for knowledge and an irrepressible commitment to public service,” President Granger said.
The President made those remarks as he attended a memorial service held in Jarvis’s memory.
“Carmen Enid Jarvis, born in 1924, was a child of the ‘twenties’ – a generation for whom hard work, sedulous study, moral rectitude, religious faith, strong social bonds and high standards of work mattered. She transmitted those values throughout her life. She was intolerant of mediocrity, mendacity and sloth. She would not countenance crassness or crudeness,” he said.
The President noted that Jarvis’s generation was challenged by adversity, but set high standards of cultural and intellectual performance and made excellence look easy.
This generation’s role in Guyana’s transition from a plantation society to an independent nation is often underestimated and overlooked.
“Carmen’s style qualified her for the role of cultural ambassador. Her service as the Secretary General of the Guyana National Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is a testimony of the national and personal cultural values she held dear. She has left an indelible imprint in Guyana’s social history.” –
Jarvis wrote her autobiography entitled From Seedtime to Harvest – Seedtime for the generation of the ‘Twenties’ has become the harvest of today’s generation, and launched it in October of last year.
Jarvis passed away on March 29 in the United States at the age of 91.
She was a teacher for 27 years then, in 1979, she was offered the post of Secretary General of the Guyana National Commission of UNESCO.
In 1981, she was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement for long and outstanding service in Education and Social Work. In 1998, Jarvis was awarded a second national award, this time, the Cacique Crown of Honour for her outstanding service in education and social work.