BERYL HANNA'S FUNERAL - A PHOTO ESSAY

The wife of the Governor General Beryl Hanna (my ex-mother-in-law) died at the age of 77 on Tuesday 3rd November.  At an official funeral on Friday 13th November at the Christ Church Cathedral, the state officials and diplomatic corps attended her funeral along with the general public.  She was buried in St. Matthew's Cemetery.  Bishop Laish Boyd along with Archbishop Drexel Gomez and Bishop Gilbert Thompson officiated.  Rev. Dr. James Moultrie preached the sermon.
BIS photos / Peter Ramsa

BERYL HANNA FUNERAL - WE BURIED HER JUST BEFORE SUNSET: Beryl Hanna nee Church came to The Bahamas in 1955 at the age of 22 with two children at her side, as the husband of a fledgling lawyer and politician; a white British woman married to a black Bahamian in an era of racial discrimination.  It would have seemed to many of the elites at the time as an inauspicious start.  But obviously she knew more than they knew.  Fifty four years later and after 59 years of marriage to Arthur Hanna, national hero, former Deputy Prime Minister of the country and now Governor General, Beryl Hanna was laid to rest as a Stalwart of the Progressive Liberal Party, as Her Excellency the wife of the Governor General, with military honours, flag draped coffin and the Cabinet of The Bahamas marching behind her body.  Mrs. Hanna was laid to rest on Friday 13th November.  She was lauded by the country's leaders including the Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie, her children and her grand children, one of the children being Glenys Hanna Martin, Member of Parliament and former Cabinet Minister.  Mrs. Hanna was 77 when she died on Tuesday 3rd November.  BIS photo/ Peter Ramsay