Colleagues shocked as Duncans All-Age VP collapses, dies after meeting

WESTERN BUREAU:

The Duncans All-Age School in Trelawny has been plunged into mourning after acting Principal Ann Marie Johnson Lindo collapsed and died about 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon.

Johnson Lindo, whose substantive post is vice-principal but has been acting while Principal Michelle Gilzene is out on sick leave, had just attended a principals’ meeting at the Hague Primary and Infant School in the parish and was walking towards her vehicle when she collapsed and died at the spot.

Gilzene told The Gleaner that she was rattled when she got the phone call.

“I am not well, so she represented me at the meeting. When I got the news, in my sick self, I drove to Hague as if trying to tell myself it is not so,” she said, trying to process the still-fresh tragedy.

“Annmarie was a very devoted teacher. She was passionate about the teaching of mathematics. A devout member at the Spicy Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church, she allowed herself to be led by her Christian principles,” Gilzene added, before being too overcome by grief to continue speaking.

“She was just at the vehicle door to get into her vehicle to leave when she collapsed. There was a fireman on spot who caught her, she did not get to hit her head on the floor,” a colleague told The Gleaner, adding that although an ambulance arrived within 10 minutes, by then, Johnson Lindo had died.

BROKEN

Hague Primary Vice-Principal Everaldo Bennett said he was also broken.

“I have known her since the days when we attended Seventh-day Adventist camp. From those early days as a teenager, she looked forward to that day when she would graduate from college as a teacher. I know she went to Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College but I don’t remember which year. I am of a broken spirit,” he told The Gleaner.

Bennett said that following the tragedy, all the principals who attended the meeting and had already left returned to the location in shock. They were led in a prayer session by Education Officer Fabian Wainwright, who was one of the presenters at the meeting.

Natanish Hines, past president of the Optimist Club of Falmouth, said Johnson Lindo was a valuable member of the organisation.

“Ann was a chartered member of the club. In whichever committee she was placed, you could put your pot on fire feeling sure she was going to give of her best,” Hines said.

The Gleaner understands that prior to working at Duncans, Johnson Lindo was the mathematics coach in the Ministry of Education’s regional office.

leon.jackson@gleanerjm.com