COMMENTARY: Tribute to Alberta Christian

She strode the landscapes of her Caribbean island, and her North American adopted land like a colossus.  Her inner strength radiated outwards and warmed all those with whom she interacted.  A perpetual smile adorned her face while her honesty and sincerity attracted all and sundry like a magnet.  

Alberta Christian was an exceptional woman. In many respects, she was the last of a strong generation of women from Dominica; confident and proud; a devoted wife; a dedicated mother; a determined, phenomenal woman who walked through the vales and valleys of life, fearing no evil; confident that no weapon formed against her could prosper.  

Her life stands as a meditation on service and sacrifice without any expectation of reward.  She toiled tirelessly in those areas of service which are generally overlooked because they were deemed by most to be financially unrewarding. 

Her voluntary work during World War II in the 4H Club in the coastal village of St. Joseph; her service in the Dominica branch of the British Red Cross; her sojourn as a nurse at the St. Luke’s Mental Home and Princess Margaret Hospital; her work as the Director of the Dominica Workshop for the Blind for nearly a quarter century; her selfless service as a member of the Sodality Sisters in the St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Maryland  collectively revealed a heart as pure as gold; one which she valued much more than the accoutrements of wealth and  privilege.   

To Alberta, success was measured by three yardsticks.  First, her intimacy with the Holy Bible and its teachings.  Second, her overarching belief that she was her brother’s and sister’s keeper, particularly those considered mentally or physically challenged.  Her life was a manifestation of the biblical admonition: What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? 

 Last but not least, Alberta measured her immense wealth not in the possession of precious metals but in the tremendous accomplishments of her children which were not attained by sudden flight but by prodigious toiling deep through the night.

By inculcating those cherished values in her children, Alberta Christian was an exceptionally wealthy woman.  

It is not by coincidence or happenstance that one son qualified as a veterinarian.  Not by accident that another became a surgeon. Or that another qualified as a civill engineer.  Or that another son soars as a highly respected attorney at law, author and influencer in Maryland.  Or that one daughter,  blazed a trail, first as an accounting graduate at the University  of the District of Columbia (CPA) and later at the Johns Hopkins University as a behavioral science specialist and more recently, as an author.  And that her last daughter, a true product of Dominica “the Nature Isle” attained a degree in environmental science. Finally, Alberta cared for her challenged oldest daughter with a devotion and dedication, which proclaimed her belief that she was simply doing God’s will.

Alberta Christian will live forever in our hearts; just as she would have it. It is the possession she would treasure the most. To have had a lasting impression in the lives of those she touched.

And so let us all be glad that she lives in us. Let us ask her heavenly host to receive our Queen and grant her  eternal life.