Our mother, Dorla Eugenia was born on September 22,1941, the fourth child of her mother, lva Quallo and her father Paul Reneau. Her elder siblings were Avis, Marion and Dalton. Marion died at a relatively early age, and then her father when she was nine years of age.
She shared that after that occurrence, my grandmother married the kitchen, made every conceivable food from flour to provoide for her, my uncle and herself. Her sister Avis, the eldest, was working at the Printing Press, which was then located at Church Street and Duck Lane, currently the site of BTL Offices.
On com-pletion of her primary education at Wesley School at the age of fourteen, she became a pupil teacher. Teaching was her vocation that continued for forty-two years until her retirement in 1996. Many of her pupils, teaching colleagues, relatives, friends and neighbours continued to address or inquire of her as Teacher Dorla.
During her career with the Methodist Management, she taught at two schools, Wesley Primary and for an interim period at Ebenezer Primary School with then principal Mrs. Marjorie Laing, before she returned to the now Wesley Lower School, until her retirement.
She was involved with, participated in and contributed to the work of several organizations. She served in several capacities as member and Class Leader of Wesley Church, and Circuit Steward of the Wesley Circuit of Methodist Churches.
She served as Treasurer of the Belize City Branch of the Teachers’ Union. Money management and investments were her forte; in this regard she expressed her view that “… having worked hard for the monies earned, we then need to put them to work even harder through investments for greater returns.”
ln our childhood, my mother, father and maternal grandmother lva, taught us many lessons and principles for productive, respectable and respectful lives. After we became adults, she expressed that the sacrifices she and my father made was to provide us with an education to prepare for our lives. She was pleased that we have all become independent individuals but foremost, none of us went afoul of the law. I know the most life-changing experience for her was the loss of my younger brother, Nigel, in a road traffic accident in New York while he rode to work on his motorcycle on the morning of July 19, 2006.
On behalf of Andrea, Paul Andrew, Roland and Michelle, I give God thanks to have blessed us with a mother and father that were positive examples of parents and role-models.
