Phyllis Carter, the widow of Guyana’s poet laureate Martin Carter, has died. She was 77 years old.
Phyllis Carter
Her sister-in-law Joan Fields said yesterday that Mrs Carter passed away on Thursday evening at the Mt Hope Hospital in Trinidad after a brief illness. According to Fields, after falling ill in Guyana recently, Carter was rushed to the Mt Hope Hospital in Trinidad where she underwent an operation. Fields said that at the time of her passing, Carter was in an unconscious state.
Carter’s passing comes just over 12 years after the death of her husband in December, 1997. The couple had four children: Dr Keith Carter, Sonja Dolphin, Howard Carter and Michelle Saywack.
Speaking about the life of her sister-in-law, Fields said Phyllis had been married to Martin Carter for over 50 years. She said apart from being a committed wife to her husband, she had also worked as a nurse at St Joseph’s Mercy Hospital. She was also a member of the Cheshire Home Committee and the Castellani House Committee of Management.
Curator of Castellani House Elfrieda Bissember expressed shock at the suddenness of Carter’s passing. She said the death was unexpected given her “youthfulness, energy and sharpness”. She said for the last two years Carter had served on the Castellani House Committee of Management and had made several contributions. According to her, Carter was esteemed by so many people and was pivotal in promoting various cultural ideas.
Bissember said Carter “had been at the centre of a lot of the intellectual activity in Guyana” especially given her closeness to her husband and his friends, who represented some of the brightest minds in the country.
She said in recent years Carter would read one of her husband’s more popular poems: “Death of a Comrade” at funerals of distinguished members of society. Bissember recounted that last year at Janet Jagan’s funeral, Carter had read the poem. The two of them had shared a close friendship, she disclosed. Outstanding Guyanese author, poet and academic Dr Ian Mc Donald remembered Phyllis Carter as a very good wife to his dear friend the late Martin Carter. According to him, Phyllis was a wonderful and kind woman who was extremely generous to him and his family. Mc Donald stated that Phyllis was a “tremendous support” to Martin, who had a strong dependence on her.
He said too that Phyllis had a clear interest in the arts and took great care in preserving the work of her husband. Martin Carter’s library and papers were still kept at the Carter Home, McDonald said. He said it following the passing of both Martin and now Phyllis, “it is very important for their memories that his papers and library are preserved…since they are an important part of our literary heritage.”
Carter’s body is expected to be flown back to Guyana and her funeral will most likely be held some time next week.
R.I.P Tell Martin his poems are so relevant today, especially “This is the dark time, my love”
i always promised myself i’d stop by Martin Carter’s house one day and talk to whoever was inside
one day during carifesta with two writers from trinidad and a Guyanese writer coming back home i drove over to the place and met a man tending the yard
he was the gate keeper of sorts. he told me Mrs. Carter was resting. i told him to tell her I was at the gate
I’d never met this woman nor had I any idea what she looked like. but she came to the door, gave me a stern lecture about dropping by unexpected and invited us in for about an hour long conversation
she also gave me a couple breadfruits to take when i was about to leave :-)
my deepest sympathy to the carter’s family,,friends and love ones ..my prayers are with you all …may her soul R.I.P. and her work and contribution to society live on …
A good story. Condolences to the Carter family…
Well Said Reddy finally a good story from SN. My condolences to the family on the loss of such a huge asset to Guyana. I believe that there is always a more powerful woman behind a great man. I suspect that like Janet Jagan, Phyllis Carter was the power and the support behind Martin Carter. I hope both of their works are preserved in the history of this wonderful country.
my sympathy goes out to the family and friends of ms carter
My sympathies to the entire Carter family.
My condolences to Michelle and family. Your loss is truly great.
my sympathy..Guyana loss…race does NOT matter! In her memory B ONE Guyana!
Sincere condolences to the family.I used Martin’s poem to pay tribute to the victim of an armed robbery here ‘Death of a Comrade’.
She was one of the nurses during my brief stay at St Joseph Mercy Hospital.
She was a gentle, humble woman.
May her soul rest in Peace.
Like you, I too have known Aunt Phyll personnally. As a friend of one of her sons, she was a always a warm and considerate person, always willing to assist with a smile on her face.
My condolences to all her surviving children and in laws. May she rest in peace.
My condolences goes out to her family. This goes to show when prominent people in the society get sick they are flown out of the country to get medical treatment, but if you are poor you have to deal with private doctors and the gphc.
True amer-ra, however you shold have also added that if she had passed away while at big hospital in GT, a lot of people here would be blaming the Govt and Jagdeo.
My condolonces to the family. A loss for all Guyana.
Mohamed Z. Rahaman:
Do not jump to conclusions. You don’t know if she was rushed from the G.P.H. to Mount Hope in Trinidad. With a good health care system there would be no need for her to seek treatment in Trinidad. It’s an indictment of the country’s health care system that citizens have to seek treatment abroad.
One of my favourite poets. I have two of his collections. RIP, Mrs. and Mr. Carter..
Martin Carter was one of the finest poets of the 20th century. If he hadn’t spent so much of his life in Guyana, he would have been recognized as such. With Phyllis’s passing, another thread with the idealistic generation of the 1950s is severed and all that’s left are the corrupted, clientelistic politics of the present day PPP and PNC.