It is with deep sorrow I learned of the passing of Ms. Ramphal (as we always called her).  I remember that day I went with my brother-in- law to No. 59 Primary School, where we met her, and she was the one who was  instrumental in my getting the job as an interim teacher there.  Then later came her son Victor also as a teacher there, who later married Kala, another teacher there.  We were like family then.

In March 2010, she came to late son's viewing at Dowd's Funeral home and sang the hymn "What a friend we have in Jesus"  That was the last time I saw her. 

Whatever lies in the Great Beyond for her, we will never know.  We can only hope she can reunite with her son in some form.

Rest in peace Ms. R.


To know Ms Ramphal is to love her!!
My first encounter with this endearing woman was when she was teaching at the No. 59 Primary School in Guyana. She was a mentor and chaperone for us, a number of female teachers, driving us to and from school  in her mini car. It was admirable to see the precision with which she handled “the steering wheel”! I was very impressed with the strength she  displayed. Her passion for life was masked with her smiles and signs of tenderness. She has lived a long well lived life and would be dearly missed by many. 
I would like to extend my deepest condolences to her family, relatives and friends. May God grant Ms Ramphal eternal rest and everlasting peace!! 



A year later, I took Victor’s place when he opted to return home.  I would continue to benefit from your generosity for another five years until I completed my ‘A’ Levels and the University of Guyana.  I remember Michael and I waiting at Bourda Market for the box of food you would send to us on a weekly basis.   I remember your visits at the end of the month to pay the rent and replenish our supplies.
My aunt, your life was bigger than life itself, beyond nobility and beyond extraordinary.  You were the first woman in your village to become a school teacher, the first woman to own and drive a car.  You built and owned your own home while you were still in your twenties.  Your life and your accomplishments would never cease to amaze me.  You truly lived your life on our school’s motto “ Per Ardua Ad Astra”  Through adversity to the stars.
Today, as we celebrate your life and say our final goodbye,  I want to thank you on behalf of my parents, myself and my siblings – Estel, Rosetta, Pamela, Sunita, John and Godfrey and my brothers – Michael and Daniel who are no longer here – for the amazing love and opportunities you provided us.  We are forever grateful and if per chance. I have learnt some algebra and geometry, French and Latin, it’s because of you.  And if perchance my life is better today and I can see a little further than others, it’s because I stand on your shoulders.  You were one giant of a woman.
I have seen you age, I saw your struggles, your pains, and sometimes the fear in your eyes, and everyday I prayed that you would find peace and comfort. God knows best and he took you to rest.  
So my beloved aunt, it is with a broken heart and profound sadness, I bid you farewell.  You have done your good deeds, you have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, you have kept the faith and you are now in heaven with your Creator and your loved ones enjoying your rewards! I love you my dear Aunt.  I always did and I always will!  
Goodbye.
Raymond Dundee


For a brief period at the end of her career, she was Deputy Head Mistress at the Leeds Primary School.  She retired in 1984 and migrated to the USA to be with Victor and his young family.  In 1996, she returned from Florida to the Bronx to live with her sister, Betty, Pam and Godfrey and subsequently to Queens Village, where she spent her final years.
My aunt, many women are generous and worthy but you have surpassed them all.  My memory goes back to when I was two years old and even before then, our lives became entangled forever.  I recall, while we still lived at No. 49 Village, how we would visit you, how you washed us and took us on long walks to No. 46 Village and No. 50 Village.  I remember the sunny days, the tropical breezes, the trees, the birds and the wild flowers along the way and how we felt loved and safe in your care.
I remember that August day in 1963 when you visited us at Whim.  You had just returned home after a year at the teacher training college.  Victor had spent that year with us at Whim.  You asked “Mike and Ray, do you want to come and live with me at No. 48?  Our answer was a resounding yes and our lives would change forever.  For the first time, we wore yachting boots to school.  We slept in beds with mosquito nets and were surrounded by the works of Shakespeare and Dickens.  For the next eight years, I lived between No. 48 Village and Whim.  I remember how you and I plied the swamps for shrimp and crabs.  I remember the curried cow’s liver and roti on Fridays!  The bhonjaled water hen we took to school for lunch, the gurumah and the kheer that you loved so much.
And then in 1970, you embarked on your most enterprising project yet.  You rented a room in Georgetown for your son, Victor,  and my brother, Michael, to attend the GTI, with my sister, Rosetta, as their maid.   (Part 5)

She remained at Skeldon during the week, seeking shelter with relatives and on Friday afternoons as the sun was setting in the crimson western skies, as the cows were coming home and as the birds were returning to their nests, Ms. Ramphal, my Aunt, would arrive home to Mai and her infant child, who by then thought that Mai was his mother, hence referring to Ms. Ramphal as Didi.  And if you think that was punitive enough, there is still more.  For the 1955-1956 school year, she was practically exiled from home.  She was posted to the beautiful but remote island of Wakenaam on the Essequibo River, at Maria’s Pleasure Primary School.  She was taken in by a local rice farming family who provided her with boarding and lodging and became her lifelong friends.
In the summer of 1956, the tide started to change in her favor.  The compassionate and caring headmaster of the New School at Tain requested her to fill a temporary position at his school.  The same year we had moved from the mosquito infested hut in the swamps of No. 49 Village to our Aji’s home at Whim.  Ms. Ramphal and Victor lived with us.  I can still picture her taking him on her bicycle to her job, and then in the beginning of 1957, the break she had prayed for and waited for, finally came.  She was ecstatic!  On the recommendation of her lifelong friend, Joseph Pahalan, she was offered a permanent position at the No. 59 primary school.  Finally, she was able to return to the home she had recently built and in time to take care of and to say farewell to her beloved grandmother, Mai, who succumbed to heart failure at the age of 76 and who left her with the additional responsibility of taking care of four orphan children whom she had rescued four years earlier.  Ms. Ramphal would spend most of her remaining professional life at no. 59 primary school where she taught reading and writing to beginners and where she rose to become a senior mistress.  (Part 4)

She was fired from her job.  Despised, condemned and rejected, she was left almost alone and without hope to take care of her infant child, who was born with congenital asthma.  A modern day Hester Prynne - forced to figuratively wear the Scarlet letter!
But my Aunt, Ms. Ramphal, has always been one of the most resilient persons I have known.  She stumbled, she fell but like the phoenix, she rose from the ashes.  To survive, she turned to the life skills her beloved grandmother, Mai, had taught her when she was still a young girl.  She joined with the women in the village – cutting and planting rice for menial wages.  She planted her grandmother’s farm at Big Reef and would religiously travel every Saturday morning to the market at Port Mourant to spread her jute bag and sell her produce.  Fortunately, there is more good than bad in this world and the forces for justice will always prevail over evil.   My aunt remained in the doldrums for another two years but she was still loved and embraced by many.  A brave headmaster, I believe it was teacher Changhoor, rose to her cause.  A product himself of the Presbyterian School and Church, he penned the most eloquent letter to JB Cropper, Head of the Presbyterian Church in British Guiana, questioning the teachings and Christian values of the church and its decision to fire Ms. Ramphal.  Embarrassed, the church reversed its decision and corrected the injustice it had done but not without some punitive measures, and, in the summer of 1954, Ms. Ramphal returned to the classroom and to her lifetime profession – in an interim position – first at the Skeldon Scott School and them to the Anglican School, twenty-five miles away from home.  On Mondays, at the break of dawn and when most of the village still slept, she was on her bicycle covering a distance of twenty-five miles to her job.  (Part 3)

My aunt’s life is a beautiful story that must be told:  Story of a child born in poverty and raised to be a teacher and headmistress, a story of faith and commitment, a story of perseverance and industry, a story of dedication and honor, a story of charity and enduring love, a story of human endeavor and triumph of the human spirit.  Ms. Ramphal was born at Canjie, Rosehall in Berbice, Guyana on September 11, 1929 to John and Bipti Ramphal, and spent her early childhood at Plantation Canje with her siblings, Betty (my mother), Chan and William.  As the story goes, her parents loved to party and one day when her paternal grandmother, Mai, dropped by to see her four grandchildren, she found them is distress, locked up, hungry and all alone.   She rescued them and promptly took them to live with her at no. 48 village. 
Mai lived in a mud-walled thatched roof hut with her husband (our great grandfather – Old Bull).  Mai was also the midwife of the village.   Mai was a progressive thinker – she wanted to give her grandchildren a chance to succeed in this life and at a time, when most descendants of indentured laborers were skeptical about sending their children to school, she took the bold step to send her grandchildren to Christian Sunday School and the No. 48 Canadian Mission school.  Ms. Ramphal was a diligent student.  She excelled in her sums, her comprehension and composition.  Loved by the teachers and the church, she won a scholarship to study for the Junior and Senior Cambridge exams at the Corentyne High School.  After high school, she returned to her village and settled down to be a teacher at her alma mater No. 48 Canadian Mission School.
Her beloved son, Victor Ramphal, was born in May 1952.  And when you would have expected it to be a time of joy and celebration, it turned out to be a period of deepest despair.  Her world was turned upside down.  Many, including the church that nurtured her, turned their backs on her – a single mother.    (Part 2)

Tribute to My Aunt:
Good morning everyone!  This is a very sad day for all of us.  The life and works of a very beautiful and dear woman has come to its inevitable end.  
My name is Raymond Dundee, a nephew of Ms. Ramphal.  
On behalf of all of her relatives including her sister Betty Dundee and her family, her grandchildren and daughter-in-law, her sister, Chan and her extended family, the family of her late brother – William Arthur Ramphal, her other nieces and nephews, I would like to thank everyone who is here today (in person and on Zoom) and all those who have sent their condolences.  We have received countless phone calls, emails, texts, Facebooks posts, warm thoughts and prayers.  They have been both comforting during this difficult time and have been a reminder of the impact My Aunt Jasodra Ramphal had on the lives of so many others.
I would especially like to thank the families of No. 59 and No. 60 Villages including the Bhagroos, Jhagroos, Kissoons and Ramnarines;  the families of No. 48 Village – her ancestral home, my cousin Latchman, his wife Reina and family who always rise to the occasion.  Sincere thanks also to Pastor Yarru and the Tremont congregation.  And to all her other beloved friends and relatives.  
Thank all of you for embracing her and loving her all of her life.
What a woman my aunt has been! What a life she has lived!  What a success story! 
Ninety-one years is a long time to live. Ms. Ramphal’s life has gone beyond the biblical three score and ten.  This gift of her long life is a gift to all of us.  A long life that endowed her with a wealth of experience but with it came tremendous toil and suffering and many hurdles to surmount.  She always rose to the challenge and still had her full share of disappointments and personal tragedies – the loss of her grandmother when she needed her the most, the loss of her brother, the loss of nephews and nieces and her beloved son, Victor Ramphal.  (Part 1)

An angel has gained her wings.... you have touched the life of me and my family... will remain on our hearts forever 

On behalf of the Churchill family, we would like to extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to the entire family.  Words can't express how saddened we are to hear of the passing of didi. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all during this difficult time. We love and will miss you didi. ❤

We remember Ms Ramphal, not only as a family member, but also as a close friend and colleague in the Teaching Fraternity. She was gifted as an educational leader and has helped to mould many young minds and guided many new teachers on the path to become true professionals in administering the educational agenda.  Among family members and villagers she was a shining star who provided guidance, encouragement and hope to all.  Even in her old age she was still an ardent reader and had a very sharp memory.  She was always happy whenever we visited her on  our trips to NY and we never failed to do so.  We must compliment family members who took care of her as she grew older.  Her faith and belief in her Saviour Jesus Christ gave her the energy and will to live a long, healthy and productive life. She has indeed left the world a better place than she found it because of her many encounters and positive contributions to it.  However,  the time has come for her to report to her MAKER.  A call was made from Heaven and she has answered.  Let us wish her a safe journey to the Pearly Gates of Heaven where Angels are awaiting to receive her because she has successfully accomplished her mission. She will be missed but never forgotten.
To the grieving family members and many friends we extend our heartfelt condolences.
May her soul rest in eternal bliss.
From Charlie and Eulin Ammar and other relatives from Guyana.

Those we hold closest to our hearts never truly leave us. They live on in the kindness they have shared and the love they brought into our lives, Bhougi ,you will be truly missed my sincere condolences to the family. 

On behalf of the other branch of the Dundee family, originally from Corriverton Town, I extend our sincere condolences to the family of auntie Jasodra Ramphal, an extraordinarily brilliant educator and servant of our Heavenly Father. Like her elder sister, our big mama, Mrs Betty Dundee, she devoted her life in shaping and moulding the lives of the students in her care and to the Glory of God from whom all blessings flow. Her loss will be felt by her family and her many friends.
May the soul of aunty Jasodra Ramphal rest in everlasting peace, safe in the arms of a Merciful and EverLoving Father in Heaven. R.I.P auntie Jasodra Ramphal.

Once in a lifetime, people get to meet an amazing teacher like Miss Ramphal. 
She was among the elites in the field of education in Guyana. Her dedication to the education system was exceptional from nurturing elementary school children to grooming young and upcoming school teachers. I was fortunate to be her student at No. 59 Primary School in Prep B in 1966 and was privileged again to join her as a young school teacher in 1976. 
Miss Rampal’s leadership, mentorship and guidance made me a better person and I will cherish her memories forever. 
May her soul Rest In Peace!

We first met Mrs. Ramphal many years ago at a family gathering. Since then we  have shared many precious moments with her. Mrs. Ramphal was a woman of strong faith in God; a very kind-hearted soul and an incredible human being who left her mark on everyone she met. We will surely miss you, Mrs. Ramphal, but hope one day we will meet again at  a different time and place. Psalm 4:8 says it beautifully, "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord make me dwell in safety."

Rest in Peace, Mrs. Ramphal!










Ms Ramphal was outspoken, bold and  brave.  She was a pillar of support for families in the school community, her home at 48 Village and the Presbyterian Church.  As long she was able to walk she was there for funerals,  family celebrations,  always willing to give a helping hand.  We were privileged to work with her.  R.I.P. 

Miss Ramphal would forever live in my memory. She gave me my first job at 59 Primary School when Headmistress there. 
She treated me like a son and would often advise me to strive for higher ideals 
She was a strict disciplinarian and didn't suffer fools gladly.
I last saw her in 1979 and would have loved to meet her one last time but that was not to be.
Gone but never forgotten, she was a true legend.
May God reserve a Special place for her in His abode.
Our deepest sympathies to the bereaved family.
The Narine Family.

A truly amazing soul has passed. Didi, as she was affectionately called, was a very kind and compassionate person who was always willing to lend a helping hand to others, especially the poor and the less fortunate. She has touched the lives of many people. She was truly a role model and an inspiration. I’m forever grateful for all the help she has provided to me and my family. May her soul RIP.

My wife and  myself met Miss.  Ramphal (AKA) sister Jazz in the early eighties, and from day one we fell in love her smile and her commitment to the Lord.
She were a very emotional, caring and loving person, a friend to many and we will miss her dearly, our sympathy to the family.
R.I.P.

On behalf of the Dhookie family,  Aunty Betty and all her children . We  will like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the entire family . Didi was a great soul that touched many, her memories will lives  on forever in our hearts. Gone but  not forgotten.  May her soul rest in Paradise. 

I’ll remember Ms Ramphal in many positive ways-with a big smile and a great sense of humor, always great with a story    Our hearts go out to you and the entire family. Although I don’t know exactly what to say, I want you to know that I am with you in thought and wish you comfort and peace as you remember Ms Ramphal. She will be sadly missed. 

Aunty Jas was my Mother's(Sarojnie Roberts, known as Meena) best friend. I grew up knowing of Aunty Jas. She was a special and pleasant person. Circumstances made her migrate but whenever she would return to Guyana she would make it her duty to visit mom. My mom is already in heaven and I'm sure it will be a beautiful reunion. Rest in peace Aunty Jas and may you rise in glory. 

Kousilla Khargi and family. 
 Miss Ramphal was like a member of our family.  We loved her dearly and connected with her regularly.  We will miss her very much.  May the Lord  welcome her with both arms.  We pray that her soul rest in peace.  Our deepest sympathy goes out the entire family.

Miss Ramphal was my first boss. She was always very kind and caring to me. 
She was a no nonsense person but very kind at heart.

I remember riding in her car every day to and from work and enjoyed our conversation during the commute.

May she Rest In Peace and may God bless her soul 
Jairaj 

She ran her race well,  influenced many and left a wonderful legacy. God Bless her. 

May her soul rest in peace with the Lord whom she served so faithfully 🙏.  
She was part of our church family at FUPC for just a short time but was well known to all with her friendly smile. 

Knowing Miss Ramphal was a pleasure.She always carried a bright demeanor,and had a welcoming smile.She will be greatly missed.Our deepest sympathy to all the family.Rest in Peace

OBITUARY

Jasodra Ramphal

11 September, 1929 – 1 February, 2021

R. Stutzmann & Son

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