Prominent Guyanese historian and educator, Sister Mary Noel Menezes, has died at the age of 92, former President David Granger confirmed Wednesday.
Granger said Sr Menezes taught at the University of Guyana from 1967 until her retirement as a Professor of History, in 1990 at the age of 60, recalling also as a student “recalls “the rigor of her research, the breadth of her knowledge, the clarity of her instruction and the value of her advice”.
Sister Mary Menezes belonged to the Order of the Sisters of Mercy and was a trained historian, who pioneered work in indigenous and Portuguese history.
She received her doctorate in history from the University of London for her ground-breaking dissertation “British policy towards Guyanese Amerindians in the 19th century” and in addition to her academic life, she was also well known for her work at St John Bosco Orphanage, for boys aged three to 16, which she ran from 1968 to 2003.
In 2000, she founded the Mercy Boys’ Home in Georgetown for boys 16 and over, to help them transition to adult life.
She received several honorary doctorates from universities all over the world, including the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 2005 and was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement by the Guyana government in 1982, and in 2015 was inducted into the Order of Roraima.
CMC
