The former Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Sir James Mitchell, was laid to rest on Saturday 18 December on the Grenadine island of Bequia.
Sir James was accorded a state funeral with services held in Kingstown and Bequia.
Grenadian Prime Minister Keith Mitchel and Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley were among regional dignitaries that paid tribute to Sir James Mitchell.
The Grenadian PM hailed Sir James as ‘the greatest’ as he spoke in Kingstown.
“He was a peace-loving man, fiery in defence of his people; that’s the man I knew. A stalwart of the regional integration movement. He was essential in bringing together the different political forces in Grenada post-invasion 1983”.
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley, paying tribute in Bequia, said Mitchell and herself are from different generations, yet she understood his love and devotion for the region.
“We developed a bond that I came to cherish authentically. I knew of the exploits of him on the Commonwealth stage”.
Mottley said her first encounter with Sir James was at Sir Errol Barrow’s funeral; little did she know that Mitchell would come to guide her later in life.
“It was not in government that I knew him, but when I entered opposition again, and he as a retired PM running his hotel Frangipani, and my love for Bequia brought us together, year after year”.
“And it was significant for me, his commitment to Caribbean civilization, always give me the inspiration that our generation needed to carry on from that which has been done and built”.
Children and grandchildren of the Mitchell clan paid fitting and glowing tributes to their father and grandfathers life, work, and the legacy he now leaves behind.
Other Tributes came from Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, Opposition leader Godwin Friday, Lady Janice Compton, and former House Speaker Monty Maule.
Sir James, 90, the second Prime Minister of SVG, fell ill on 31 October and died on 23 November.
Former Prime Minister Mitchell was buried in his family’s private cemetery at Mt Pleasant, Bequia.
