Sheila Holder to be buried in Brooklyn on Saturday

Nov 23, 2011 News

Former Alliance for Change (AFC) Prime Ministerial Candidate, Sheila Holder, is to be buried on

Sheila Valerie Agnes Holder

Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.
The thanksgiving service to celebrate her life will be held at the Church of St. Mark Episcopal/Anglican, 1417 Union Street Brooklyn, New York. Following the service, the long-time politician will be interned at the Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Currently, a book of condolences is opened to members of the public at the Alliance For Change Head Office, Campbellville.
Holder was survived by her husband, Noel Holder, Managing Director of I-Net Communications Inc. and her children Yale, Sheldon and Kaila.
She passed away on Sunday evening last after a battle with cancer. Earlier this year, Holder stepped down as the Prime Ministerial Candidate for the AFC citing her medical condition.
That post was later filled by her colleague, Raphael Trotman.
In February, Holder was hospitalised and was reportedly treated for an intestinal blockage at a city hospital.
Holder, a former Parliamentarian for both the AFC and Working People’s Alliance (WPA), was described as a homemaker, civil society activist, consumer advocate and politician, who has been married to Noel Holder, an agriculturist, for the last 36 years, a union which has produced two sons and a daughter.
Holder entered the National Assembly in 2001 on a GAP-WPA ticket and was a member of the Parliamentary Management Committee, the committee for the appointment of members of constitutional commissions, and the Standing Orders Committee.
Along with Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan, two leaders of the AFC, she participated in the World Bank Seminar on Parliament, Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in Helsinki, Finland, in 2003.
It was during this time that she was contracted by the OAS to prepare a study on “Political Party Campaign Financing” in Guyana.
She served as a member of the Trustee Board of the NGO Forum, and as a director of Guyana Stores Ltd, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards and the Bauxite Industry Development Company Ltd. In 1995, she became chairperson for the environmental chapter of the Guyana National Development Strategy.
Within the region, she was elected a member of the CARICOM recognised Caribbean Consumers Consultative Committee (CCCC), a precursor to the Caribbean Consumers Council, and she was also a member of the Global Policy & Campaigns Committee (GPCC) of Consumers International (CI) as the representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. She represented the regional group at meetings such as the CARICOM “Forward Together Conference” with heads of governments; the seventh CARICOM Council Meeting for Human and Social Development; and the 23rd Meeting of Ministers and ACP-EU Economic & Social Interests Groups, in Brussels.
In 2002, she was recognised by the St Lucian Ministry of Commerce, Tourism, Investment and Consumer Affairs and the St Lucian Consumer Association for her contribution to the advancement of the consumer movement in St Lucia.
During 2004, Holder was a part of the Commonwealth expert team of five mandated by the Commonwealth Secretary General to report on the Cameroon registration process for presidential elections. She returned subsequently as a member of the 45th Commonwealth Elections Observer Group to the Cameroon presidential elections under the chairmanship of the Joe Clark, former prime minister of Canada.
Holder had presented several papers at international conferences including the presentation on “Privatisation of Telecommunications – the Guyana Experience” at the Consumers International Fourth Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Santiago, Chile, and had contributed articles to regional and international publications.

23 thoughts on “Sheila Holder to be buried in Brooklyn on Saturday”

movingonNY November 23, 2011 at 9:13 am

A great Daughter of the soils, and qualified Afro-Guyanese, but the current party that leads the country could not find none.
My sympathy goes out to her family
1. dannyvid November 23, 2011 at 2:28 pm
  
  The lady was a true guyanese.
2. Yannabanno November 23, 2011 at 3:29 pm
  
  Why don’t you keep your message to decency and keep politics out of the Lady’s death?
badass4u2mikal November 23, 2011 at 10:53 am

Ok …Kaiteur news, asisde from the fact that Ms Holder would be buried in the USA, what other aspect of your article is new news?, Could you not have given us the reason why this is, as opposed to keep writing the same/similar details in every article about the soul? Or is it that kaieteur news simply rewrites the same/similiar details to add lenght to their news?Jus asking, because i have noted this behaviour in other stories emanting from all the media houses in guyana..
Devanand_Bhagwan November 23, 2011 at 11:13 am

a great loss to the AFC, and moreso to Guyana.

Thank you, Sheila, for your tireless contribution towards the betterment of our country.

You’re in a better place – praising the Lord with the angels! See you ‘soon’!
seclusive November 23, 2011 at 11:53 am

wonder why she was not buried in her homeland? where tributes, especially from the political circles would have poured in…guess there is more to the mortar than the pestle….
Guyana Analyst November 23, 2011 at 1:54 pm

Met her in person only once and I will always remember her humility, keenness and sincerity in wanting betterment for Guyana.

Sheila Holder:

Sister to all Guyanese
Honorable to the end
Embodied dignity
Inspiration to many
Legacy that will live on
AFC Founder
Lancelot Freitas November 23, 2011 at 2:37 pm

my sympathies to the family. why cant she be buried in guyana? isnt she guyanese? isnt guyana the place for her? just curious
1. Yannabanno November 23, 2011 at 3:30 pm
  
  Hey, no one can just do a time warp thing and get the body to Guyana. It costs money, Bro.
2. Yale Holder November 23, 2011 at 5:26 pm
  
  Hi Lancelot,
  
  My mother wanted to be remembered for her life which was dedicated to Guyana and the people in Guyana. Cancer took her body, not her spirit or love for Guyana.
  
  Her burial in New York is for family most of whom live in the US. There will be a memorial service in Guyana where we will celebrate her life.
  
  Thanks,
  
  Yale.
  1. JC November 23, 2011 at 6:14 pm
    
    Good decision. Having one’s relatives buried in neglected cemeteries in Guyana is not good for the spirit too.
3. ursulla November 23, 2011 at 6:00 pm
  
  Would you take on the cost. Let her body rest where she died. in the U S if she had died in GT then it would have.
Gt_bana November 23, 2011 at 2:38 pm

Sheila Holder belongs to Guyana.
1. Yannabanno November 23, 2011 at 3:37 pm
  
  WE ALL BELONG TO GUYANA AND GUYANA BELONGS TO ALL OF US.
  
  My Native Land:
  
  Oh I care not that others rave over fair lands afar,
  Where silver lakes and placid streams mirror the evening star;
  I care not though their wealth be great, their scenery be grand,
  For none so fair as can compare with my own native land.
  
  Their sylvan vales and rippling brooks may charm me when I roam,
  But what of that? No brooks and vales can steal my love of home;
  Where I in childhood used to play, and where the old folks rest
  Must be to me, where’re I be, the dearest and the best.
  
  And though I rove o’er hill and dale and brave old Neptune’s foam,
  O’er crags and rocks and mossy dells, I still will turn me home;
  For when at length I come to die, I want no gilded tomb,
  Just let me rest within thy breast,
  where thy sweet flowers bloom,
  Where thy sweet flowers bloom.
  
  So Sir/M’am: This Country is all Ours’. It is not for any particular race contrary to what one specific race believes and all their actions are hinged accordingly. Check the applicability of the last verse. My soul will never rest if I am not buried or cremated in my Beloved Guyana. I am from that water, air, dust and soil and that is where my elements belong after am I dead.
incontxt November 23, 2011 at 3:08 pm

Well! Well! Well! A patriot will be buried in NYC!!! What a thing!! Could it be that her final resting place will be treated with respect? Anyway, condolences to those who grieve for her. Her loss is not only yours, but all Guyanas’.
Yale Holder November 23, 2011 at 6:03 pm

We plan to have a memorial service in Guyana. In this new post 9/11 world transferring bodies from the US is a logistical and costly affair. The burial is more of a convenience for family than anything against Guyana.
1. Yannabanno November 23, 2011 at 6:43 pm
  
  I do not know your Mother but I think she had an office in the First Fedeartion Building way back in the early eighties. Despite the right or wrong things she stood for, she was a Guyanese. I still consider her decent without going back to some of the unpleasant situations her name is tied to.
  
  My sympathy to you, your sisters and your father. She was a Guyanese and I am sorry. May her soul rest with the Lord.
2. JC November 23, 2011 at 6:52 pm
  
  I know the decision to bury her in NY is not made without careful and agonizing consideration. As more and more families relocate far from home, its only natural that we should want our departed close to us. Matters not where she is buried, she was a daughter of Guyana and a honoured one too. Best wishes and our sincerest condolences to the family, relatives and friends. The state of the cemeteries in Guyana leave much to be desired. Sparse maintenance and with no security, one might be attacked and robbed and, God Forbid, even killed while visiting the dead. Keep yours close to you and be safe.
3. Kim Persaud November 26, 2011 at 10:55 am
  
  Yale,
  Greatest sympathies to your family. Your dad and my dad were really great friends. I saw your dad a year ago at my dad’s funeral and was asking for your mom. Can’t believe it but may her soul rest in peace. Please relay this message to your dad from the Persaud’s family (Harry Persaud in David St.)
dezetante November 23, 2011 at 6:52 pm

Rest in Peace great child of our soil
Rajkumar Singh November 23, 2011 at 8:37 pm

My sympathies to the family. I can’t see why these so call loyalist of Guyana suddenly choose to be burried in a sincity.
The_Prez November 23, 2011 at 8:41 pm

Condolences to the Family of Mrs. Holder. It’s easy to understand why she is being buried in the US. that’s because most of her relatives are in the US a lot of people are in the same situation. IT’S CHEAPER FOR THE FAMILY!! I’ve also heard people say that when they die don’t take them to Guyana because it’s like killing them twice and that’s because of the condition of the cemetery.
Indian_Man November 23, 2011 at 9:27 pm

Shelia is an eloquent speaker and a voice for change. I only became aware of Shelia during the election campaign via u tube. She is truly a patriotic Guyanese that will be missed by her supporters. Condolences to the family.