A memorial service was held on Tuesday, December 20, in commemoration of the late Alliance For Change (AFC) executive member Sheila Holder at the St George’s Cathedral, Georgetown.
The service saw scores of relatives and friends, as well as colleagues of Holder, paying tribute to the woman who was described as “phenomenal”. AFC leader Raphael Trotman in his tribute described Holder as a fighter, one who stood firm in her beliefs. He said her life and legacy must be remembered as she served the country well. The former parliamentarian was also described as one of the party’s exemplary and outstanding members, who held steadfast to the principles that established the party and was loyal.
Holder’s life was deemed as a testimony to what can be achieved by hard work, determination and dedication.
Leaders of the AFC including Raphael Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan along with relatives and friends of the late Sheila Holder at a memorial service held in her honour at the St George’s Cathedral on December 20 in Georgetown
The well-spoken Holder was honest with all whom she interacted with and was never fearful of anyone.
Meanwhile, Khemraj Ramjattan, executive member of the AFC, said he admired Holder’s strength, noting that there was nothing that any person who interacted with her could dislike. “You had to love and appreciate her,” he stated.
He, like Trotman, reminisced on Holder’s life in the National Assembly and the work they did collaboratively.
Holder, former vice chairman of the AFC, died on November 20 in the United States after losing her battle with stomach cancer.
She was 65. Holder’s medical condition had forced her to withdraw from the position of prime ministerial candidate for her party.
Holder was born on February 7, 1946 and was an art and music teacher before she became a broadcaster and producer for the then Government Information Service, Guyana Broadcasting Corporation.
The former parliamentarian for both the AFC and Working People’s Alliance (WPA), was described as a homemaker, civil society activist, consumer advocate and politician, who had been married to Noel Holder, an agriculturist and CEO of I-net Communications Inc, for the last 36 years, a union which produced two sons and a daughter.
She first entered politics in 1997 when she contested national elections as vice president to Dr Rupert Roopnaraine of the WPA. Holder longed to improve the quality and standard of politics in Guyana and abhorred the “winner-takes-all” politics. She joined the AFC in 2003 to form the all inclusive movement in a bid for a better Guyana.
She served her second five-year MP term as a member of the Ninth Parliament.
In the lead-up to this year’s general and regional elections, she was elected as the AFC’s prime ministerial candidate, a position she relinquished due to her illness.
The life of Sheila Holder will forever be remembered, as a fund has been set up by her three sisters, Paulette Gooding, Angela Rickford and Lynsyd Holder. The fund, “the Sheila Holder Community Service Fund” was set up to preserve Holder’s legacy.
The fund will partner with a non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation in Guyana that is legally constituted under a board of trustees to award annually any project that addresses a specific injustice here, and is committed to community care and public service.
The project should also exemplify Holder’s qualities of resourcefulness and courage, dignity and determination.
It has been proposed that the fund be financed with the proceeds from annual national and international fundraising events to be organised by the trustees in collaboration with her sisters.
