Cayman Islands pays respects with National Hero lying in state

Grand Cayman, 19 May 2022 – A respectful nation paid heartfelt venerations to beloved departed National Hero, Hon. Sybil Ione McLaughlin, MBE, JP.

She received full lying in state honours, attended by a Guard of Honour provided by RCIPS and Cayman Islands Coast Guard officers, at the House of Parliament from 10 am to 3 pm today.

Family members, present and past Members of Parliament, headed by Premier, Hon. Wayne Panton, JP, MP, senior government officials and members of the community attended the poignant ceremony to express their grief and pay their profound respects to ‘Ms Sybil’, as she was fondly known in the community.

 British and Cayman Islands flags were also lowered to half-mast across the three islands in a mark of respect, including at Parliament during the lying in state.

 Offering words of welcome from the steps of Parliament, House Speaker, Hon. McKeeva Bush, JP, MP, underscored that Ms Sybil was “a true inspiration to those of us who knew and were acquainted with her…as a Caymanian patriot.”

 Giving a brief overview of her pioneering accomplishments, the Speaker highlighted that after joining the Commissioner’s Office as a clerk-typist in 1945, Ms Sybil became the first Secretary/Clerk of the first Executive Council that was established when the Islands received its first written constitution in 1959.

He noted that later Ms Sybil became the first full-time Clerk of the Legislative Assembly and the first woman to hold this post in “our Commonwealth of Nations”. Before retiring in 1984, she was also the first Secretary of the Cayman Islands Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association from 1965 to 1984.

 In another first, Ms Sybil was sworn in as the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on 15 February 1991, Hon. Bush recalled, a position she held until she retired in 1996. He added that in 1996, Ms Sybil received the nation’s highest honour of being made a National Hero in recognition of her contribution to Cayman’s parliamentary development as well as to the community she served so well. She was the only person to receive the honours of a National Hero in her lifetime and not posthumously.

At the conclusion of the lying in state in the afternoon, Ms Sybil was accorded a moving send-off from the precincts of the Parliament, with the Speaker emphasising the great loss to the nation with her passing. She also received a general salute while the bearer party took out the casket from inside the House with solemn dignity to the waiting hearse.

The official funeral service takes place tomorrow, Friday, 20 May 2022, from 1 pm at Elmslie Memorial United Church and will be followed by a Hero’s Farewell held at Heroes Square. A 21-gun salute by the RCIPS and the sounding of the Last Post and Reveille will take place.

Friday will also be observed as a National Day of Mourning when the Cayman Islands will mark the day with a minute of silence at 9 am across all three islands. Members of the public are asked to join in observing this minute of silence as a mark of collective respect to Ms Sybil. All radio stations are also asked to pause their broadcasts at 9 am for the minute of silence. Additionally, all uniform branches are asked to wear black armbands or ribbons on Friday.

The proceedings tomorrow of the official funeral service and the hero’s farewell will be broadcast live on Cayman Islands Government YouTube and CIGTV channels as well as on Radio Cayman’s Breeze FM stations on 105.3 FM on Grand Cayman and on 91.9 FM in the Sister Islands.

(GIS)