PAST CENTENARIAN
Georgiana Quinlan

Miss Georgie was born at Roblot in the quarter of Choiseul on March 3, 1901, the daughter of

Miss Felicia Gabriel. According to her baptismal and birth certificate she is registered as Marie

Therese Gabriel.

She adopted the name Georgiana and used her father’s surname Quinlan. Hence, she was

commonly known as Georgiana Quinlan.

By a statutory declaration of March 18, 1967 she choose to revert to her original surname

Gabriel using her adopted forename Georgiana. She was henceforth to be known as Marie

Therese Georgiana Gabriel. However, friends and relations have continued to call her

Georgiana Quinlan. To Old Boys of St. Mary’s College who attended the College during the

1950’s and 1960’s she is “Miss Georgie” or just “Mum.”

Slowed down by advancing age she eventually settled down in a CDC apartment on High

Street, opposite Dr. Freezer’s. Age and aching knees began to take their toll. Mum was still

able to determinedly drag herself out of her apartment to go to church and to distribute the

Catholic Chronicle to a few customers. She also prepared guava-jelly, guava-cheese, salted

peanuts, sorrel and ginger-beer at Christmas time for some past SMC students and other

families around Castries.

The time came when Mum began to find it difficult to weather the storm. There were mornings

when she could not get out of bed, not feeling well enough even to go to church. For Mum a

devout Roman Catholic and one of the few privileged St. Lucians to meet His Holiness the

Pope when he visited St. Lucia in 1987 that was a sacrilege. She began to fear the worst: to

be found dead in her apartment. She could no longer go through her daily routine safely. Mr.

Michael Mondesir assumed the role of her guardian and was able to influence Mr. Augustus

Justin to take her in to the Adelaide’s Home for the Aged and Destitute which was then

located at Sans Souci.

Georgiana Quinlan passed away on June 9, 2001.