Jan 21, 2021
Stanley Lizama
Former Governor-General Doctor Dame Minita Gordon was laid to rest on Wednesday at the Lord Ridge Ceremony. While her sendoff was stately, she was not always treated with the respect and dignity deserving of her position. In fact, in her retirement, she was often seen around Belize City, where others who did not know her would make fun of the elderly woman. It is part of the neglect that was experienced when she retired to private life. There was no pension set aside for her then, and there still is none set aside for Governor-General Sir Colville Young now. As described by Prime Minister John Briceño, it is a blight – one his administration is prepared to correct. Doctor Gordon’s longtime friend Stanley Lizama shared an unfortunate incident with the media.
The last three days in Belize were observed as days of mourning in honor of the passing of the country’s first and the Commonwealth’s first female Governor General, Doctor Dame Minita Gordon. She passed away on January 1, 2021 in Inglewood, California at the age of 90 to cancer. On Monday, January 18, 2021, her body was flown to Belize and arrived at the Phillip Goldson International Airport. A number of high ranking officials from Belize were there to meet her casket which was draped in the Belizean flag and received by the Government of Belize including the current Governor General of our country Sir Colville Young, the Prime Minister, and Leader of the Opposition Hon. Patrick Faber.
Jan 19, 2021
Second Day of National Mourning: A Viewing at Government House
The heavy downpour over Belize City today made the second national day of mourning to honor Belize’s first Governor General feel even more somber. The rains forced slight adjustments in the planned procession, but the cortege proceeded with all the pomp and ceremony. The late Dame Minita Gordon was taken to the House of Culture or Government House to lay in state. Despite the downpour, the turnout of persons who showed up to pay homage was respectable. Among them were Belize City Mayor Bernard Wagner, Speaker of the House of Representatives Valerie Woods, President of the Senate Carolyn Trench Sandiford, Minister of Human Development Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, and several other notables. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Chief Mourner & Sister of Deceased
“She was a dear, loving, caring person and she would give comfort to people who were in trouble and people who were having a hard time financially, they would come to her and she would help out. She wasn’
t a rich lady but she didn’
t mind sharing what she had with Belize. She loved Belize dearly and even during the four years of her illness, when she was with me in Los Angeles, I would hear her praying for the children of Belize and praying for Belize and I thought it was remarkable. As I grew up with her, Belize was always in the center of heart.”