Late aged-care and social work advocate Sybil Francis has been described as a gentle powerhouse and a source of inspiration to hundreds of people whose lives she touched.
Francis, a former director of the Social Welfare Training Centre and chairman of the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC), died on May 30 aged 106.
Eldemire-Shearer, director of the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre at The University of the West Indies, said that Francis took her under her wing when she joined the NCSC in 1982.
“In the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, social work was largely spearheaded by the Jamaica Welfare Limited, a non-governmental organisation that later became the Jamaica Social Welfare Commission, a government-run agency,” said Francis.
“May we continue to perpetuate the work she started [and] celebrate her life and incredible contribution to social work and age care worldwide,” Eldemire-Shearer said.
