THE body of former journalist and television news anchor Ursulla Persaud Ramdayal was yesterday cremated following a moving thanksgiving service for her life, held at the Memorial Gardens Crematorium in Plantation Le Repentir, Georgetown.Ursulla died at age 53 on August 18 following a period of illness.
In the many tributes made in her honour, relatives and friends remembered Ursulla as a person whose life was worthy of emulation.

She was described as a very humble, sharing and caring personality who had always been polite, peaceful, and of calm demeanour. But beyond that demeanour, she had been a ‘fighter’ who worked hard and dedicatedly to achieve what she set out to do, her former media colleague Beverly Alert recalled.

“If there is anything I can emulate in her, it is her ability not to be sad…and she was always thinking ahead,” Alert recalled.

A past student of North Georgetown Secondary School, Ursulla’s best friend down through the years, Debra Yaw (who read the eulogy) spoke of the wonderful teenage years they had enjoyed together. Debra said Ursulla had a voracious appetite for reading, and delighted in going to the cinema to watch the latest Hollywood drama when not engaged in singing with her close friends and strumming the guitar.

Above all, Ursulla was eulogized as a wonderful, caring and dedicated person among her relatives, with her parents and siblings, and especially among her husband David Ramdayal and three children: Sara, Tiffany and Jon Paul.

The late Ursulla resided at Canal Number 1, West Bank Demerara.
Hers had been a flexible personality. Although she had studied Business, she took a bold decision, at age 32, to enter the media, where she had spent the remainder of her life – for better or worse, in sickness or in health.

As a journalist, Ursulla had made her name in the media fraternity, moving from proofreader through the ranks to editor-in-chief, Ursulla had enjoyed a brilliant and promising career, and had stamped an indelible mark at the CNS Channel 12/6.

Ursulla’s former boss, Mrs Savitri Sharma, Co-Director of CNS Television 12/6, eulogized Ursulla in a moving tribute as not only a trusted and dedicated worker who had had a passion for the job, but as one who had proved to be a ‘tower of strength’ to the Sharma family at a time when that company had suffered losses through fire.

And in a statement, the Guyana Press Association (GPA) said Mrs. Ramdayal had had a longstanding relationship with the media, which had started with her being a proofreader at the Guyana Chronicle during the period 1986 to 2009. “During that time, she also served as a free-lance writer for the Sunday edition of the newspaper, and worked as a legal clerk/secretary to the Programme Manager of the then Guyana Broadcasting Corporation.”

Her posts after that had been many, and had included being a freelance operator/producer for the GBC, as well as a trainee operator/video editor at Channel 12. She has also been editor of video production and programme producer of CNS 12, where she also served as news editor, anchor and producer at Channel 6.

Mrs. Ramdayal had later moved to the Evening News at VCT Channel 28, where she had been employed as senior reporter and newsroom editor, before she moved on to GWTV Channel 2, where she had served as editor-in-chief.

Her last post had been that of communications officer at the Government Information Agency (GINA) in 2011, where she had remained working until July 2015.

Mrs Ramdayal had had a ready smile, and had never been too busy to help a colleague. She had been beloved in the media fraternity.
It was the consensus that Ursulla will be sorely missed, but that her works and memory will forever live on. (Shirley Thomas)