Sister

Mary Noel Menezes

OR
Born(1930-07-14)14 July 1930
Georgetown, British Guiana
Died31 August 2022(2022-08-31) (aged 92)
Georgetown, Guyana
OccupationAcademic
Academic background
Alma mater
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Sub-disciplineGuyanese history
InstitutionsUniversity of Guyana

Sister Mary Noel Menezes OR (14 July 1930 – 31 August 2022) was a Guyanese Roman Catholic nun and historian of Portuguese descent.[1] She was involved with the University of Guyana from 1967 to her death in 2022, as a lecturer, head of department, full professor, and professor emeritus. She specialised in Guyanese history, particularly that of Amerindians and Portuguese Guyanese.

Early life

Menezes was born on 14 July 1930[2] in Georgetown, British Guiana, to a family of Madeiran origin. She entered the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 17, moving to Pennsylvania for her religious training.

She returned home in 1950 and taught at St Joseph High School until 1952, when she moved to Jamaica to attend Saint Joseph's Teachers' College. She then graduated with a diploma in education in 1954, and then until 1963 taught at the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School in Georgetown.[3]

Academia

Menezes returned to the United States to attend College Misericordia (BA in history) and Georgetown University (MA in Latin American history). She taught briefly at Sacred Heart College, North Carolina, and then in 1967 took up an appointment as a lecturer in the Department of History at the fledgling University of Guyana. In 1970, Menezes won a Ford Foundation scholarship to study at the University of London, where she completed a PhD (conferred 1973) on British policy towards Guyanese Amerindians in the 19th century.[3]

In 1973, Menezes oversaw the creation of a Master of Arts program in Guyanese history, the first postgraduate degree offered by the University of Guyana. She was made head of department in 1977 and upgraded to professor of history in 1980, the first time in the university's history that position had been created. From 1978 to 1980, Menezes served as president of the Association of Caribbean Historians, the first woman to hold the position.[4] She retired from teaching in 1990, and was made a professor emeritus in 2009.[5] She published her most recent book in May 2017, aged 87, which was launched by President David A. Granger (one of her former students).[6]

Charity work and honours

From 1968 to 2003, Menezes ran the St John Bosco Orphanage in Plaisance, for boys aged three to sixteen. In 2000, she founded the Mercy Boys' Home in Georgetown for boys older than 16. She also served on the council of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital from 1985 to 2002.[4] Menezes has received honorary degrees from Misericordia University (LHD, 1983), the University of the West Indies (LL.D., 2005), and Mount Aloysius College (L.H.D., 2008). She was awarded the Golden Arrow of Achievement by the Guyanese government in 1982, and in 2015 was inducted into the Order of Roraima.[7]

Personal life and death

Menezes died in Georgetown on 31 August 2022, at the age of 92.[8]

References

  1. ↑ "GR lamenta falecimento de historiadora portuguesa nas Caraíbas | Funchal Notícias | Notícias da Madeira - Informação de todos para todos! | Notícias da Madeira e do Porto Santo". Funchal Notícias (in Portuguese). 2 September 2022. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  2. ↑ "President Granger celebrates former History lecturer's 86th Birthday". Office of the President of Guyana. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 3 September 2022. President David Granger, earlier this evening, joined with Sister Mary Noel Menezes, his former History lecturer at the University of Guyana, to celebrate her 86th birth anniversary. She was born on July 14, 1930.
  3. 1 2 Sister Mary's brilliant career, Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, 6 November 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 UWI honours Sister Mary Noel Menezes, Stabroek News, 3 November 2005. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  5. ↑ Valedictorian says graduates need hope, Kaieteur News, 6 December 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  6. ↑ Sister Noel Menezes launches new book on Guyana at age 87, Government of Guyana, 31 May 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. ↑ Professor Mary Noel Menezes RSM, The Integrationist Caribbean. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  8. ↑ "Historian Sister Mary Noel Menezes passes away at 92". Stabroek News. 31 August 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
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