By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

IT was a speech that tracked her humble beginnings from a poor, barefoot girl in Andros to the highest office in the land.

And as she marked her departure, Dame Marguerite Pindling issued nuggets of wisdom as well to a nation that hears “too much too often about the vices that divide us and too little too seldom about the virtues that unite us”.

“Virtues,” she said yesterday, “such as our love of family, our devotion to God, our compassion for the elderly and the underprivileged, our patriotic fervor, and our desire to make our country a better place for our children and all our people, especially those who are most in need of a helping hand.

“These are higher values and ennobling aspirations we hold in common. If we do not now share these values and aspirations, we must resolve to embrace them. And to do that –– to give real life and vigor to the things that unite us –– we need, first and foremost, to rise above our baser selves and put aside divisiveness and discord.

“We can express differences without being divisive,” she admonished. “We have all been guilty of sowing discord at one time or another in our lives, but it is never too late to move with purpose to a higher, loftier plane –– and to do it together. We need to rise above divisiveness and acrimony and come together on common ground to build up this nation. Kind words for one another can go a long way. Showing respect and courtesy to one another and displaying consideration for each other’s feelings can bring peace and calm to many a household, no less than to our nation as a whole.”

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis and Opposition Leader Philip “Brave” Davis praised the 87-year-old for the grace and professionalism with which she performed her role. Various bands played music fit for yesterday’s occasion. But it was Dame Marguerite’s own speech, at times reflective and poignant and at other times lighthearted and cherry, that anchored the affair.

From her seat under a tent erected on the grounds of Government House, she told her story while flanked by the nation’s top law enforcement officers, Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson and Defense Force Commodore Tellis Bethel.

“I cannot but pause for a moment at this demission ceremony this evening to reflect on the great distance I have travelled, to consider on how improbable it was that this poor, barefoot girl from the remote and primitive settlement of Long Bay Cays in Andros, through the grace of God and by the favour of gracious sovereign lady and with the directing hand of not one but two prime ministers was raised up to the highest constitutional office in our land,” she said.

“I left school at age 14; consequently, I didn’t have lots of ‘book learning,’ or a college degree but I had a master’s degree in common sense and I knew how to make intelligent decisions. And with common sense, hard work, a fierce determination, a kind and loving heart and most importantly a love for my Lord and savoir, I was able to reach the highest position in our country.”

The tenth governor general of the Bahamas, Dame Marguerite succeeded Sir Arthur Foulkes on July 8, 2014. She thanked the Queen, former prime ministers, the administrators and staff of Government House, her security team, her late husband Sir Lynden Pindling, her family and the “people of our nation” during yesterday’s ceremony.

“It has given me so much pleasure to meet so many of our people as I travelled from one end of our Commonwealth to the next,” she said. “I am advised that up to a few weeks ago, some 517 courtesy calls were paid on me by Bahamians and foreign dignitaries alike. But I especially enjoyed the courtesy calls made by many of our school children particularly the youngest of them, many of whom wanted to know how old I was, while others just wanted to know if I was real and whether they could touch me.

“And how could I forget the centenarians whose homes I visited: they represent some of the proudest Bahamians you would ever meet. For me, these are but a few examples of what I considered to be the most precious part of my assignment as Her Majesty’s representative and indeed the most interesting and fulfilling part of my journey as well.”

The ceremonies will continue tomorrow, first with a farewell salute to Dame Marguerite in Rawson Square, then with the swearing-in ceremony for her successor, Cornelius Alvin Smith.