Dame Elaine Middleton

On behalf of the Right Honourable Prime Minister, the Cabinet, the wider Government of Belize, and on my own behalf, I offer deepest sympathies to the family of Dame Elaine Middleton, especially her sisters and their families, her children and their families.

Dame Elaine Madoline Middleton DCMG was born in Belize City, on July 25, 1929 to Leolin and the legendary cyclist Elston Kerr. Her father, of course, was the same Elston Kerr who had won the very first Annual Cross Country Cycle Race the previous year and would win it again in the year of her birth.  Dame Elaine passed away on Easter Sunday 2019, the day after the 91st running of this legendary race.

I don’t know how significant the symbolism in those facts may be; but I do know that Dame Elaine, throughout her life, demonstrated the grit and determination, the focus, the consistency and the willingness to struggle and endure the pain that it must have taken, not only to pioneer such a race, but to actually win it – not once, but twice.

Dame Elaine started out her professional life as a teacher. She was among the first group of students at the Belize Teachers’ College and, after graduating, she taught for a number of years in various parts of the country before leaving the teaching profession in 1957 and joining the Public Service of Belize as a Probation Officer in the Social Development Department. Over the years, she also earned a Degree in Social Work Practice, an Associate of Preceptors degree and Diplomas in Social Welfare and Administration and Applied Social Studies. Dame Elaine truly equipped herself to be of service to her country and her people.

When Dame Elaine joined the Social Development Department, it was responsible for all social work done by government for families and children, women, youth, court matters involving women and children, in addition to working with village councils and disaster relief.  Nowadays, this breath of work spans at least 3 ministries and at least 5 full departments.

Dame Elaine quietly and steadily rose through the ranks until she became the Head of the Social Development Department, the first woman to achieve that rank in the Belize Public Service. Along the way she developed many programs, created several institutions and promoted key policies, many of which are still in operation, including:

• The expansion of the 4-H movement in Belize, including the National 4-H Training Center at the National Agricultural Show Grounds in Belmopan.
• The Youth Development Center at Mile 22 on the Western Highway, a residential facility where boys were taught agriculture, trade skills, and personal development.
• A home economics school in Belize City for young girls as well as a home for girls with behavioral problems.
• The first childrens’ home, now called the Dorothy Menzies Children’s Home in Belize City.
• The Women’s Bureau, which has grown into a full-fledged Women’s Department.
• Building the National Committee on Families and Children – the NCFC.
• The passage of the rights-based Families and Children Act in 1998

Dame Elaine was radical in her own way. Not in her approach, but in her objectives. Zee Edgell, our pre-eminent Belizean author, recalls that “For a few months before Dame Elaine Middleton retired from the public service in 1981, I worked with her, and later continued, as the First Director of the Women’s Bureau. Earlier Dame Elaine had laid the foundation for the Unit through meetings, discussions, and women and development workshops.  

I remember Dame Elaine Middleton for her unobtrusive talent for persuading colleagues, and for her skillful negotiations with international agencies and organizations, which helped the Women’s Unit to become a reality. 

She was a meticulous planner, always holding in view the day when the Unit would be upgraded to a department, and the day when a line in the Belize budget would be established for women and development. …”

There is a whole cadre of women and men working in the social sector who have been trained or mentored by her or just influenced by the example of her life. Over the past few days, several have shared with me their stories of working with and learning from Dame Elaine.

Dorla Bowman, who continues to work as a community organizer, worked with Dame Elaine for a short spell in 1981.  She recalls that “Dame Elaine Middleton was the person who drafted the proposal for the establishment of the Women’s Bureau, and when government officials said there was no monies for this new unit she went to United Nations and got monies!  

Three months after I joined her staff in the Ministry of Social Services, she retired. But what I learnt from her and about her in that short time influenced me for a lifetime! Whatever she did, she did with her heart and soul for the good of Belize!  … She made life better for Belizeans countrywide.”

Similarly, Roy Bowen remembers “Dame, Ms. Elaine, Mrs. Middleton, Mrs. M – always with a ring of respect!” In his words, “She was not only extremely accomplished but also was a lady of great spirit, truth, leadership and commitment to making a difference – A Pioneer and a Visionary – creating, improving and giving of self.  She believed in mentorship.  She was a quiet influencer, providing career advice, development, training, life coaching.”  Roy recalls that she gave him his first job at 19 years.  He had applied for a job as a social worker with a minimum age of 25.  According to Roy, “She told me I was too young, but would I be interested in the post of Youth Officer?  I accepted and this was the beginning of a lifelong mentorship and later friendship.”  Roy Bowen is currently UNICEF representative in Turkey.

When Dame Elaine retired from the public service in 1981, it was to become Director-General of the Belize Red Cross Society where she served for 3 years before, like many Belizeans, she moved to the USA where she lived for a little over 10 years. During that time, she became deeply involved in the work of the Consortium for Belizean Development in organizing the Belizean community abroad and raising funds for various social programs back home in Belize, including of course, providing significant support for the programs of the YWCA. 

When she returned to Belize in 1994, it was to continue in service to the country and people of Belize.  She became the Executive Director of the NCFC and served in that position until 1998. While there, she organized and successfully mobilized resources for a review of the legal framework supporting families and children.  During consultations in 1996 and 1997, with (in Dame Elaine’s own words) “a wide cross section of the community – teachers, nurses, policemen, the regular members of the community, parent-teachers associations,  young people – as many people as we could get a hold of … we had  … them say to us … in what ways we could improve the laws that affect them as families and children.”  The resulting recommendations were included in a draft Families and Children’s Bill that was approved by Cabinet and the National Assembly and passed into law as a comprehensive Families and Children Act (1998) which incorporated and updated several existing Acts: Adoption of Children Act, Children Born out of Wedlock Act, Infants Act, Legitimacy Act and the Status of Children Act.

CEO Judith Alpuche worked with Dame Elaine at the NCFC.  She recalls that she was “a green social worker… but … Dame Elaine ensured that we were educated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and so I became a CRC trainer when “children’s rights” was still a dirty word/phrase. Due to the collaborative and inclusive way she worked, I had the privilege as a junior social worker to work alongside learned legal scholars and internationally experienced social workers contributing to the drafting of new rights-based family law in Belize that was eventually passed as the Families and Children’s Act.   With Dame Elaine you learnt more than just the technical side of the work, but also the soft skills. Her gentility infused everything she did.”

Anita Zetina, former head of the Women’s Department, remembers her “unselfishness and concern for the development of women. As Executive Director of the National Committee for Families and Children she had contacts with agencies that had funds available for programs.  She wrote a grant proposal for sewing machines and computers, even though NCFC would not have use of it, but she got it for the Women’s Department.  That’s how we got our first computer lab to facilitate computer literacy for women – she never expected any accolades she just worked and got things done.” 

To AnnMarie Williams, who is currently the Deputy Programme Manager for Gender Affairs at the CARICOM Secretariat, Dame Elaine “represented a towering ideal to family, community and country.”  AnnMarie recalls that when she worked at the NCFC as the first Child’s Rights Co-ordinator during the very early days when Dame Elaine was its Executive Director, “A better mentor, no young woman could have asked for. We spent many afternoons during the lunch break at our Albert Street West office, chatting about all sorts of things, but especially politics and gender equality. She never shied away from telling me that she never liked me in politics as it can get ‘very dirty’. She was nonetheless supportive because she felt “women in Belize must increase their representation in parliament if things are to get better in the country”.

Having done the mammoth task of getting the Families and Children Act passed into law, Dame Elaine “retired” for a second time in 1998.  That did not last. In 2002, she agreed to work on a project, with the support of UNICEF, that was entitled “Towards a National Consensus on a Comprehensive Policy and Plan of Action for Children and Adolescents in Belize”. This project brought the two main political parties together to sign an agreement to implement these plans, whichever party formed the Government. What a radical idea!  But Dame Elaine was radical in her own way. Not in her approach, but in her objectives.

Dame Elaine was a member and served on the Board of the YWCA for many years, including as President from 2002 – 2009.  It was my privilege to succeed her as president.  It was Dame Elaine, with Sonia Lenares and Beverly Brown, who convinced me to join the Board of Directors of the YWCA on my return to Belize in 2002 and I am sure that she had it all planned, in her own way, that I would agree to be nominated to succeed her.  Dame Elaine was an excellent long-term strategic planner. Indeed, it is possible that her talent as a planner was superseded only by her powers of persuasion.

Margaret Nicholas, who currently heads the NCFC, is away and cannot be here.  She sent a note to say how sad she was “to hear of Dame Elaine’s passing.  She was my mentor and great admirer.  She was a wonderful boss, well respected, firm but fair. … She was a great mediator and a gentle giant. ..  She served her country well both as a public officer and as a volunteer. She will be terrible missed by all of us who knew and loved her. … I am proud to say that she is responsible for who I am and where I am today because she believed in me and will always be my mentor.” 

There are many who share those sentiments. Across the length and breath of this country there are persons who were impacted by Dame Elaine’s life and work:

• boys and girls who were taken aside in their troubled youth and who, with the benefit of her advice, grew into strong and productive adults;
• persons who participate in and benefit from the social programs which she initiated and which are still in place;
• married couples who she counselled and helped through their problems so their families stayed together and grew stronger;
• social workers who learned from her approaches and methods and still apply these in their daily work;
• women’s groups that she mentored, that have contributed to the social and economic development of their communities;
• children who she assisted by finding families who could adopt them when their own biological families were unable or unavailable to care for them;
• and many more.

Dame Elaine also served her Methodist Church family well, being an active member of several church committees and a board member of Wesley College.

Among her many awards, she was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1976, and a Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (DCMG) in 1998, for “services to education and the community”. It always seemed to me that those awards were more important to us than to her. She is loved not only for all that she did in the service of Belize, but for how she did her work; the selflessness with which she contributed and the humility with which she walked this earth.

Icilda Humes describes Dame Elaine as “a true servant leader who dedicated her life to serving her country through her government and non-government work.  … Dame was a pioneer and role model to many, including me. I feel that she truly paved the way for someone like me to be able to walk in the footprints that she left on Belize’s sands of time. … I could type an epistle about my professional life’s intersection and my personal life’s interaction with Dame, but I will leave it as this: To me, Dame was the type of woman that I wanted to be when I grew up.”

Icilda is right.  She was the kind of woman many of us wanted to be like.  She gave selflessly of herself for as long as she was able.  She was a true patriot of our beloved Belize.  May Dame Elaine’s light shine as an example to all of us.  The Government and people of Belize are truly grateful for her life’s work in the service of her community and country.

May she rest in peace and rise in glory.