THE journalism community has lost former colleague and friend in Wendella Patterson, who passed away on April 15, 2012 at a hospital near her California home after battling cancer. “WP” to some, and “Wendy” to others, joined the Chronicle at the same time as Tangerine Clarke and Nichola Cave-Hunte in the late 1970s. In 1982, Wendy was transferred to the Guyana News Agency.

Those were the glory days of the late 1970s to 1980s when quality and accuracy were the sine qua non of good journalism. The competition was intense even though it was largely among the state-owned media.Wendy was always after a good story. One day in 1983, she turned up late at GNA. After being asked to
explain her lateness, she sheepishly revealed that she had “poped” the General Council meeting of the People’s National Congress. Unfortunately, GNA could not use the story.

She migrated to Barbados in 1984 and ten years later to the United States of America but she maintained contact with friends and former colleagues in Guyana and across the diaspora, never losing an infectious cheerfulness for which she was well known.
Wendella Patterson leaves to mourn several siblings; husband Errol and two children and a stepchild (Roleir, Rolana and Christopher).