IgnatiusSISTER MARY Ignatius, the Roman Catholic nun who nurtured several generations of Jamaican musicians at Alpha Boys' School over the last 60 years, died at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) on Sunday night.
She was taken to the UHWI on Saturday after a heart attack. A Jamaican, Sister Ignatius has been involved with the Alpha Boys' Home and School since she was 17. She received the Badge of Honour for service to the nation in 1996.
Established in 1884, the Alpha Boys' School has produced more great musicians in Jamaica than any other institution in say the last century or so. Many of Alpha's boys did not know their real parents. They were also not necessarily Roman Catholics, but found in her, a mentor and friend.
The Alpha Boys' Band started as a drum and fife corps in 1893. Fifteen years later, the school obtained a number of brass instruments and the band as it is known today, began.
Sister Ignatius was born at Innswood, St. Catherine, on November 18, 1921. She was baptised at the Roman Catholic Church in Spanish Town, and went to the elementary school in that town. Later her family migrated to Kingston and she attended Mico Elementary School and then Alpha Academy. The sisters there made such an impression on her through their concern for the poor, that she joined the Sisters of Mercy on February 1, 1939.
Her most recent project is the development of a museum of musical memories at Alpha. Mounted on display are Don Drummond's trombone, Tommy McCook's tenor saxophone, Roland Alphanso's flute and Bertie King's alto saxophone.
