Kudos for Phenomenal Woman Helena Maud Mc Allister

HELENA Maud Mac Allister, who is, perhaps, the only known centenarian in Guyana to have served in the position of Managing Director of her family business at the age 102, will, on April 15 be celebrating her 105th birth anniversary.

Mrs. Mc Allistair also successfully chronicled and published the Helena Maud Mc Allister Autobiography – “A Century with Jesus,” at age 102 as well. The book was released at her birthday celebration that year at the Pegasus Hotel.

Greetings on International Women’s Day
As the world observed International Women’s Day on March 8, Mrs Mc Allistair who at this ripe old age is still gifted with good functioning mental faculties is extending greetings to the women of Guyana. Edited by her son, Dr. Godfrey Mc Allister residing in the United States of America, the message dictated by an educationist for decades reads thus:

“On this International Women’s Day, I encourage every woman to make the best use of the best education you can get. Make use of the strength that God has given you. Specialise in excellence in everything you do. Let your value be known and let your influence be felt.

Invest heavily in the children you bear and make sure that you train them up in the way they should go so that the world tomorrow will be better than it is today. Stand up for your rights and use your influence, and along with your inherent value, to negotiate the best possible deals for yourselves. And most of all, give God the glory, for it is in Him and through Him that we are all that we are and that we will become the best that He designed us to be ….

A word of caution for parents: It is our responsibility as adults and as Godly parents to keep our worldly words, sights and activities as far away from us and our children as possible. Happy International Women’s Day!”

The goal of IWD
International Women’s Day was the brainchild of the United Nations and speaks to Women and Gender Equality: “ It is the Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, and was the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men. Since then, the UN has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

In this regard, the life of Mrs. Mc Allister mirrors the purpose and intent of what IWD set out to achieve since she was always gainfully employed, working as an equal partner with her husband, whilst doing an incredible job at working to promote the empowerment and educational development of women.

Mrs. Mc Allister, fondly referred to as Aunt Maud, is the wife of the late Hilton Mc Allister, founder of the former ‘Mac’s Secretarial School’, located at Lot 208 Duncan Street, Newtown, Georgetown. She has a proud record of being the matriarch of a family-owned business that has actively contributed to the academic moulding of hundreds of the nation’s youth for decades, through what was initially the Mac’s Secretarial School, located on Duncan Street, Campbellville.

For more than 50 years, the privately owned institution – with Hilton Mc Allister at the helm, has churned out hundreds of students who were all well rounded academically. When Hilton married Helena soon after leaving his job at the Palms Geriatric Home in 1942, the couple ventured into teaching, coaching six young ladies to become typists and stenographers and also helping them in Home Economics.

That initial venture bloomed and blossomed and was the beginning of what was to become a thriving educational venture.
The institution provided tuition at various levels: Kindergarten; Secretarial School; Day High School and Day Commercial School among others before finally setting up the ‘Day High School’, housed at the Frolic Hall at Robb and Light Streets, Bourda, which offered coaching for students to the level of Junior and Senior Cambridge Examinations.

With Hilton Mc Allister as Manager, the late Hugh Desmond Hoyte – also the former President of Guyana, functioned as Principal for many years. The Mc Allisters’ only daughter, Ruth was Assistant Principal and her brothers Godfrey and Hilton (Jnr) worked as lecturers.

Kindergarten and beyond
Known for his visionary qualities, Hilton ironically and regrettably lost his vision to glaucoma and transitioned in 2008. To his credit, he succeeded in making a considerable impact in the education sector in a private capacity. Aunt Maud recalls their venture into the delivery of higher education was a huge success and grew from strength to strength through the years. Many benefitted from the school’s well-delivered and innovative academic programmes. One such person is Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, who was a student of the school and later joined the teaching staff. And so too, was Ms. Anne Green, former Chief Probation and Welfare Officer.

Following her husband’s death, Mc Allister diversified and ventured, quite successfully so – into the Apartment rental business, overseeing the rental of a three-storey apartment building in Newtown. That facility was registered as a business entity under the name of: Mac’s Housing and Facilities. It initially housed the popular Mac’s Secretarial School. To date, the business continues to do well, under the management of the centenarian ably assisted by her daughter Ruth and an efficient full-time paid secretary.

At 105, her mental faculties are average: She has good hearing, fairly good sight; and makes her way (assisted) up and down three flights of stairs to conduct Bible Studies on the lower flat of her apartment building. A devout member of the Christian Brethren Church, she also attends weekly Church Service at other parishes.

Though the business would have had its challenges, there were occasions to celebrate, one of the greatest being the introduction of computer technology on the education curriculum locally. She also recalled, with some degree of sadness, the devastating blow they were dealt, when four of their computers were destroyed at ‘one blow’, due to technical difficulties.

But indefatigably, they managed to overcome and years later opened up an Internet Café, through which means, she was able to provide a further educational service for the youths of Campbellville.