It is with much sadness to announce the death of Elizabeth Hurlston who passed away last Sunday morning 1^st September, just after her birthday August 31^st. She was 105 years old.

I have known Elizabeth for many years, mainly through meeting her at Elmslie Memorial Church and through my friendship with her son-in-law, Mike Bowerman.

She was a huge wealth of information and was still able to converse even in her advancing years.

She was a teacher for much of her life having studied in Jamaica and Antigua and then trained as a Montessori teacher in the United Kingdom.

Born in Grand Turk Island, Elizabeth spent a lot of her time travelling and I understand she lived in at least 10 countries.

Her father was Hugh Hutching and it was when he became Cayman Islands Commissioner she came here, the youngest of eight children.

When her mother became sick she went to Jamaica to look after her.

She became a nurse as soon as World War II broke out, and after training accepted a post, in Jamaica where most of her family were, in an Adventist hospital.

Later, she joined Knox College, in Kingston, not only as a nurse but also as a teacher.

It was on a plane travelling to Grand Cayman at Christmas, 1949, to visit a friend, that she met her husband to be, Caymanian widower, Otto Hurlston. She already knew him from her childhood days here.

Two weeks later they were engaged and married in June 1950.

Otto was Superintendent of the Standard Fruit Company Estate in the Artibonite Valley, Haiti, and that was where she lived for a time before going to Honduras where a husband ran a banana business.

In 1954 the couple returned to Grand Cayman.

Otto was an accomplished craftsman and he designed and carved turtle shells into jewellry. Elizabeth ran the shop where these were sold that also included Agfa cameras, 4711 cologne, Seagull outboard engines and Scottish cashmere sweaters. The business was called Caymandicraft that is now the Eden Rock Diving Centre.

For forty years the shop stayed open even after Otto’s death in 1986.

Elizabeth, in the mid-nineties, finally sold up and moved in with her step-daughter, Mary and her husband, Michael Bowerman.

She taught Sunday school at Elmslie Memorial, served the Girls’ Brigade, was Captain in George Town and Commandant of the island. She served on the Elmslie church mission committee and became a member of the ‘In His Steps’ visiting team.

She is the only member of the church to have gone on every church mission trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic from their inception in 1988 – about 15 trips in all. While visiting the Dominican Republic on her final trip, shortly before she reached 94, she cracked several ribs – an effect of the rough roads on her osteoporosis.

Even in her mid-90s, she helped out in the church office, visited shut-ins and served with the Pink Ladies.

Elizabeth was the chair of the Public Library Committee, and founder member of the Red Cross, the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and the Garden Club. In 1980 she became a Pink Lady. She kept a list of sick people and shut-ins to whom she made weekly visits. She was a volunteer at The Pines Retirement Home and a volunteer teacher’s aide at the Cayman Prep and High School. Being an animal lover, she kept cats and dogs and helped at the Humane Society. In 1976, she received the Queens’ Badge and Certificate of Honour for her contribution to the youth of the Cayman Islands. In 2001 she was awarded an MBE by the Queen for community service. She was one of the four Quincentennial Ambassadors for George Town in 2003 as the Cayman Islands celebrated its 500th year since discovery.

In addition to Mary, Elizabeth is survived by two grandchildren, Deborah and David who, with their spouses, Will Ryan and Susana, and her four great-grandchildren, Gabriela, Adriana, Abigail and one-year-old David Alexander.

A service of celebration of the life of Elizabeth Hurlston will be held at 2pm, on Saturday, 7 Sept., at Elmslie Church.

Bright colours are requested, and in lieu of flowers, any donations received will be shared with Jasmine (formerly Cayman HospiceCare) and various Christian ministries in Haiti.

NOTE: The above information on Elizabeth Hurlston was supplied by her family.