(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica’s first track and field star, Isis Clarke-Reid, died at her Port St Lucie, Florida, home on Monday, June 8, after a brief illness.

Reports in the local media around the time the former track star celebrated her 100th birthday on November 18, 2019, stated that the family’s only wish was that she be recognised publicly by the Jamaican Government before she passed.

SHOULD HAVE BEEN RECOGNISED SOONER

Nonetheless, the friend believes that with the family emphasising Clarke-Reid’s frail health in November, greater effort should have been made much earlier to recognise her place in history.

“(Clarke-Reid) and Gertrude Messam were the first women to represent Jamaica in track and field,” said David last November when he spoke with the media ahead of his sister’s birthday.

Last November, as she reflected on her time on the track eight decades earlier, Clarke-Reid said: “It was great.