A BOOK of Condolence was opened at the New Amsterdam Town Hall on Tuesday to pay tribute to Deputy Mayor Harold Debydeen who died last Friday.The town’s administrators were among the first signatories who paid tribute to their now departed colleague who “had a way of getting things done.”

Debydeen rose to the position of Deputy Mayor under the Errol Alphonso administration, from 1994 to 1995, and again in 2012 to the present after the sudden passing of Ms. Hyacinth James.
The Deputy Chief Citizen performed his last duty, hours before his death, by visiting and organising the clearing of the Municipal dump site at Esplanade Road.
However, at approximately 16:00 hrs, Debydeen, a widower who lived alone, alerted his neighbour of an excruciating pain in the region of his chest. However, he attributed the pain to a spicy lunch.
But after the pain intensified, he was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he was treated at the Intensive Care Unit but subsequently died at 20:00 hrs.
A post-mortem revealed that death was due to cardiac arrest.
Debydeen, a father of two, was born in New Amsterdam, and attended the All Saints Anglican School, now defunct, and the Berbice Educational Institute.
He worked at the Hand-in-Hand Insurance Company, during which time he became a People’s National Congress (PNC) candidate to serve on the New Amsterdam Mayor and Town Council.
The funeral service was scheduled for yesterday at the All Saints Anglican Church in New Amsterdam.

By Jeune Vankeric