Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Guyanese bid farewell to Deborah Backer
Hundreds of Guyanese gathered at St. Andrews Kirk yesterday. Some spilled over into the compound. They were there to pay their final respects to former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Deborah Jan Backer.
Backer died on March 21. She was 54.
The body of the Parliamentarian lay in state on the lawns of Parliament building before being taken to the church across the road for the funeral service.
The body of Deborah Backer being carried into the St Andrews Kirk
President Donald Ramotar and First Lady Deolatchmie Ramotar and members of the Cabinet, were among the mourners as the body lay in the Parliament building compound. And scores filed past to get a final glimpse of the woman who served as Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
Among the other prominent persons paying heartfelt tribute to Backer yesterday, were Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman; Opposition Leader, Brig David Granger; members of the Lions Club of Georgetown, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers and the Guyana Bar Association.
Backer served as a member of several important organizations. Through her involvement with the PNC, she served as a councilor in Georgetown city council.
She entered the National Assembly in 1997 and served until she tendered her resignation in February 2014; she was the Deputy Speaker, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Sectorial Committees and was also the main opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Public Safety and National Security.
A lawyer by profession, Backer obtained her Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago after receiving a Bachelors of Law at the University of the West Indies in 1981.
Many expressed gratitude for her life and service to the country as they bade farewell yesterday.
“Thank you for knowing us and touching our lives with your presence… We are eternally grateful to have loved and known you.”
Backer who leaves to mourn a husband and two children, was laid to rest at Le Repentir Cemetery.
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