Local education icon Dr Lydia Hodge-Pickering passes
She died at age 81, having been born on August 14, 1942, in Tortola.
She was married to the late Henry Pickering.
Life committed to service
Dr Hodge-Pickering was a retired university professor and a proud alumna of the Virgin Islands Secondary School in Road Town. She began her career as a business teacher of Typing, Shorthand and Office Procedures at the then BVI High School in the 1970s where she helped many students at the time gain valuable skills, especially young ladies. Dr Hodge-Pickering’s educational career spanned 40 years and brought her, students, and her colleagues great joy and fulfillment.
She served as a Business Education Teacher for seven years and headed the Business Education Department at the then BVI High School for three years. During her career, she also served as a senior Business Teacher at the Charlotte Amalie High School on St Thomas, and then as an Instructor and Assistant Professor at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) for 22 years with most of that time spent on St Croix, USVI, before returning back to her homeland, the [British] Virgin Islands.
The late Dr Hodge-Pickering, an indigenous Virgin Islander, served as the Chairperson of the VI Teaching Service Commission for 11 years and as a Board Member for the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College for some five years.
She was honoured last month by the Government of the Virgin Islands among others for her commitment to education. In her biography at the event, it was noted that Dr Pickering thrived on the notion taken from a song that states, “If I can help somebody, then my living will not be in vain”.
She touched many lives & was praised as a trailblazer
In reflecting on her educational career, the now deceased Dr Hodge-Pickering viewed her role as that of facilitator of a learning environment where students could develop and grow.
As of today many of her former students both from her time at the Secondary School on Tortola and students from the UVI still speak fondly of her and the role she played in their lives and educational career. The late Dr Hodge-Pickering had no children but treated many persons as her own children and was also known for her fashion styles, high professional standards, and her warm and engaging personality.
The deceased developed many friendships with her students and even before her passing was still regarded as a mentor to many of them, as most of the residents' lives she touched through her education service still play prominent roles in both the VI and USVI to this day.
The staff and management of Virgin Islands News Online offer condolences to the immediate family and other loved ones of the late Dr Lydia Hodge-Pickering.
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23 Responses to “Local education icon Dr Lydia Hodge-Pickering passes”
Our Last Conversation.. As She..Asked.. Me .."How are you doing".. Long Time No See...And My Whimsical response was..
"I am Undoing"... She Smiled and said ..I remember you in My "Typing Class".. And you were always The Philosopher....Now I am Wondering if I was Actually being Prophetic.???!!..Our Legends and Our Icons.. Who are.. Stepping up to Replace Them...
May she sleep on until the blessed resurrection.
Had the privilege of running into her two weeks ago and she never forgot her students. She will forever live on in my heart!