HUMANITARIAN. SPIRITUAL leader. Servant of the people. Idealist. Ruby Elizabeth Martin is Jamaica's poster-girl for selflessness and service to community.
Today, you are being honoured for the class and heart you have demonstrated in whatever field of endeavour you have chosen to pursue.
We salute you for the unstinting commitment you have lavished on the Maxfield Park Children's Home, St. Andrew and downtown Kingston's historic Ward Theatre, and the countless lives that you have helped to fashion.
We commend you for your deep sense of spirituality. Ms. Martin lives by the words of Indian nationalist leader, Mahatma Gandhi, and Roman Catholic humanitarian, Mother Teresa, who both preached the merits of committing to the needs of others over self.
We applaud you for your academic ambitions, and your volunteerism. Ruby Martin attended St. Anthony's Academy (no longer operational), Titchfield High in Port Antonio, Portland, and Fitzhenley's Commercial College in Kingston. Volunteerism began to gobble up a large portion of her days after her work with the local Ohara chapter of Ikebana (Japanese interpretation of floral art) led to her being awarded a short-term visitors' grant by the Japan foundation to visit Japan and learn about environmental control in 1981. This served to pique her interest in social work and she started a campaign to clean downtown and New Kingston and joined others to sweep the streets and provide garbage bins and drums to schools.
She later moved on to various charities, and today is chiefly chairman of the board of the Maxfield Park Children's home, the largest and oldest home in Jamaica, as well as vice chairman of the Ward Theatre Foundation, established in 1986, to restore the civic centre and inspire cultural life in Kingston. The Foundation is working to restore the landmark to its former glory, to inspire the cultural life of Kingston to days when it was a theatrical showpiece buzzing with activity.
Mrs. Martin also served as director of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce from 1980-1986, with the Jamaica Women's League, the Museum Advisory Board of the Institute of Jamaica, the Jamaica Korea Society, the Jamaica Orchid Society, the Cancer Society, the Juvenile Advisory Board and the Jamaica American Society. She is a Justice of the Peace and was awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander class, in 1996.
Ruby Martin we thank you for your unwavering support of the Maxfield Park Children's Home which you have chaired for about 15 years. We can only guess at the high price your unyielding commitment to public service and the needs of others must have exacted on your personal life.
Through your persistent lobbying and that of other board members, the home has been improved -- from the physical appearance; a well-established library; a division into three sections to accommodate children of various ages and needs; and a special education school and a basic school.
For these reasons, we present you with pleasure, the 2002 Gleaner Honour Award of Excellence.
