Former First Lady Joyce Hoyte passes on

Feb 15, 2011 News

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After a brief period of illness, former First Lady, Joyce Hoyte, died yesterday at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital in the city. The 77-year-old was the wife of former President and Leader of the People’s National Congress, Hugh Desmond Hoyte, who himself passed away in December 2002.
While there have been no confirmed reports as to the cause of Mrs Hoyte’s death, there are reports that she had suffered from severe spells of pain in the region of her back for some time.

According to close friend and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Executive Member, Ronald Austin, she was admitted to the hospital a few weeks ago because of the pain.
According to him the first occurrence of the pain had even caused Mrs Hoyte to collapse. She was nonetheless discharged from the hospital since medical officials did not detect any condition that required that she remained hospitalised.
“No one seemed to know exactly what her ailment was. When she first went to the hospital they ran several tests, including an MRI scan and so forth, but they couldn’t find anything so she was sent home. I don’t know that the doctors have said that there is any precise ailment or disease or problem,” Austin revealed.
It is believed that the pain Mrs Hoyte suffered was linked to injuries she had sustained in an accident in which she was involved in April 1985, while on a journey to the mining town of Linden.
That accident claimed the life of the only two children that she had bore to her husband, Amanda and Maxine, as well as the driver of the vehicle, Sydney McIntosh.
It is Austin’s belief that Mrs Hoyte never really recovered from that traumatic event.
Mrs Hoyte was discharged last Monday from the hospital but was readmitted on Wednesday as her condition had reportedly worsened, Austin said.
“I know this because I was going to see her the same day and I rang the bell and was told by the security fellow (Clint Blackman) who looked after her that she was on her way to the hospital.”
Subsequent reports from the hospital indicated quite clearly that Mrs Hoyte was not doing very well, Austin added.
He recounted that he was in a state of anxiety as to what would have been the next report about the former First Lady. “It worried me more because I was not emotionally prepared to deal with that; we just got finished putting down Winston Murray…I am still emotionally bruised.
So when the call came this morning that her vital signs were shutting down I knew it was just a question of time before I was told she had died.”
Mrs Hoyte, he revealed, succumbed some time before noon yesterday.  Austin received the news from her trusted security (Blackman) who was at the hospital at the time of her passing.
Mrs Hoyte had elected to live alone at Lot 14 North Road, Georgetown, a home she had shared with her husband up to the time of his demise. However, she relied heavily on the services of her security guard, who remained dedicated to her up to the time of her death, according to Austin.
He added that “Blackman had been a tower of strength being with her and helping her on a daily basis. He was extremely kind, helpful and humane. One cannot say enough about him…he really stood by her side.”
With him when Mrs Hoyte died was Mrs Ann Hugh. Mrs Hugh was philosophical. She said that on St Valentine’s Day Mrs Hoyte opted to join the people she loved.
The excellent service she received was indeed deserving of her, according to Austin. Mrs Hoyte over the years had remained a kind-hearted and extremely caring person and would always demonstrate a genuine interest in the wellbeing of those around her.
“She would always call if she didn’t see me come to the house or if she didn’t know of my whereabouts…She would find out if I needed anything at all. In fact even before she went into the hospital the first time she had called me because I hadn’t spoken to her for a while so she wanted to know what had happened.”
“Her death has hit me real hard for a number of reasons because she had been like a mother to me. I must say that I have been blessed in life in that I have had several mothers and she is easily one of the most important of them,” Austin admitted in a sombre tone.
He recounted that despite her ailing condition Mrs Hoyte had already started making arrangements for the birth anniversary observance for her husband which would have been characterised by the Hoyte Memorial Lecture on March 9.
“This wasn’t a party thing; Mrs Hoyte was handling this herself as she did last year and previous years.” He described her as a very strong-willed woman who was without a doubt deeply in love with her husband and was very steadfast in her loyalty to him and had taken a strong interest in his political career.
She was an avid reader even of newspapers published both locally and overseas, and thus kept abreast of current affairs on a global scale.
Even when it neared the end for her husband, Mrs Hoyte remained dedicated to him, Austin recounted.  “I know from my own experience because I saw her care for him in his final days. His food, his medication; she made sure that everything was done on time…she always fussed about him…”
Presidential hopeful, Carl Greenidge, who was also a close friend of Mrs Hoyte said that he too had no idea what was the former First Lady’s physical ailment. He revealed that although she was suffering from some pains she had not intimated that she had received any specific diagnosis.
According to Greenidge he rushed to the hospital within minutes of hearing of her deteriorating condition but was too late as she succumbed before his arrival.
He remembered her as a private and relatively reserved person but at the same time she was a very strong character with a very sharp sense of humour. She also had a keen interest in detail and had an intense curiosity for things politics.
“As a First Lady she was extremely dignified. She took an interest in very many things without you realising and she was quite protective of her husband sometimes to the point of being aggressively so,” he recalled.
He too recounted that she was very attentive to those that she liked, among whom were her husband and a circle of close friends.
According to Greenidge, he became especially close to Mrs Hoyte some time after she lost her own children. He recounted that she had taken an interest to his children and would always seek to find out about their physical wellbeing as well as their education.
As part of her genuine interest, she would often time seek to be helpful to those with various problems and would even at times requested of her husband to render assistance if she personally couldn’t.
“To me her passing is a personal lost because she took an interest in me, my family and my career…She was a special friend.”

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