Honouring Cayman'sWomen
Miss Frances Bodden
Miss FrancesBodden
Mrs. Olive Miller offered these kind wordsas a tribute to Miss Frances Bodden, MBE, JP, after her firstvisit to Cayman in 1946. It is evident from this poem, which Ms.Olive entitled Two Months in Grand Cayman, that Miss Frances touchedthe lives of everyone who came in contact with her and left anindelible mark in their hearts.
Born on 12 May, 1903 in Grand Cayman, MissFrances had a most distinguished life: longstanding service tothe government, she played a lead role in the Cub Scouts Association,gave service to the Women's Guild, and she acted as 'Mother' tothe Voluntary Service Overseas organisation. She gave of herselfwholeheartedly, but with quiet grace and elegance that spoke ofher spiritual peace and love, a testament to her close relationshipwith God.
Miss Frances joined the Cayman Islands Governmentin 1928 and gave 32 remarkable years of service until her retirementin 1960. Her service spanned a most illustrious time of Cayman'spolitical maturation as she served with eight Commissioners, beginningwith Commissioner Hutchings. For most of that period, she actedas the sole secretarial member of the civil service and for aperiod, she operated the Government Savings Bank.
Mrs. Sybil McLaughlin, local Heroine, remembersMiss Frances well as she worked with her in the 1940's, as a clerkand typist. "It was a very happy timeit was just a tremendousjoy. I used to be so happy every morning to get on my bicycleto go down to work because I just didn't know what was going tohappen. It was good camaraderie and rapport and we workedveryhard," Mrs. Sybil recalled.
The Commissioner's office was the highestin Government, which required that all correspondence flowingin and out of that office had to be of the highest standard. CeliaRutty, who worked briefly with Miss Frances, held in high regardMiss Frances' managerial abilities.
According to Ms. Rutty, Miss Frances wasin charge of listing all files that the Government had for theiroperations, a book that she kept with firm diligence.
Miss Frances also participated in the Women'sGuild with loving dedication. Mrs. Phyllis Ebanks remembered MissFrances' dedication to the group with respect to a planned tripto England that the group wanted to make. At the end of a fundraisingmeeting, the ladies found that the funds for the trip were shortand on the return drive home, Ms. Phyllis cornered Miss Francesand the other ladies in the car to contribute to the shortfall.Miss Frances' first response was to laugh and she remarked "Well this is the first [time] I had to do that," to whichMs. Phyllis replied, "Miss Frances, this is called 'payingyour passage'".
Rounding out an impressive list of communityactivities, Miss Frances was also well known for her 'boarding'service. Reverend Hicks was one of her grateful boarders who stayedwith Miss Frances after he retired from service to the Church.
As a Justice of the Peace, Miss Franceshad the responsibility of sitting on the Juvenile Court. Withher colleagues, she dealt out punishments for both children andparents: the young person received flogging under the supervisionof a doctor, and parents were fined $100 or more.
Miss Frances loved people, but she especiallyloved children. It comes as no surprise that she was often referredto as the 'Mother in Israel'. Her service to the Scouts, the Women'sGuild, the Church and to the government made her life rewardingand complete. Which is probably why she never married and hadchildren of her own.
To pay tribute to Miss Frances on the occasionof her death in November of 1978, Mr Ernest Panton used the wordsof Henry James, "the greatest use of life is to spend itfor something that outlasts it."
Miss Frances need not be pitied. She lovedlife, she loved children and she loved taking care of people.As evidence, the Rotary Club's Girls Home Community Project wasnamed after this humble matriarch. In the presence of then Governor,Mr. Peter Lloyd, Mr. Arthur Hunter handed over the keys to theHon. Truman Bodden, Executive Council Member for Health, Educationand Social Services.
As a fitting conclusion, Mr. Peter Philipsof the Rotary Club had these words to say about the Home's openingand Miss Frances, "those of us who knew Miss Frances hadthe fortune of knowing an impeccable, upright and generous Caymanian,who were she alive today, would be proud of the fact that thehome was named in her honour."
Sources for this work were drawn from theholdings of the Cayman Islands National Archive.