Sister Mary Ignatius dies at 81: Jamaica Observer
Subject: Sister Mary Ignatius Davies is
dead
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 01:02:32
-0500
Subject: Sister Mary
Ignatius dies at 81
AP and
Observer
SISTER Mary Ignatius, the nun
who ran the Alpha orphanage for boys and served as a mentor to several
influential Jamaican musicians, has died, a co-worker said yesterday. She was
81.
Ignatius suffered a heart attack
Saturday and was taken to the University Hospital of the West Indies, where she
died Sunday, Sister Maria Goretti of the Alpha Boys Home
said.
Ignatius had a history of heart
trouble, she said. The Roman Catholic nun had worked for more than 60 years at
the orphanage in Kingston and had served as head mistress since the
1960s.
Born in Kingston, Ignatius began
working at the orphanage in the early
1940s.
Her long and sterling efforts at
the orphanage won her the Observer Distinguished Community Service Award in
1997.
Although she wasn't a musician
herself, she made sure boys studied their instruments and learned to read and
write music, said trumpeter Johnny Moore, a former member of the ska band The
Skatalites, who got his start at the
orphanage.
Ignatius is survived by her
niece.
Source:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/
Posted: Wed - February 12, 2003 at 08:43 AM