By: Derrick Scott
WASHINGTON, DC – Ambassador Ralph Thomas signed a condolence book for the late former United States First Lady Nancy Reagan, and offered glowing tributes on behalf of Jamaica’s Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, the government and people of Jamaica, as he praised her contribution to advocacy on healthcare and many other key issues.
Photo Credit: Derrick Scott
“She will be long remembered,” the Jamaican Ambassador to the United States declared on Tuesday, during a visit to the US State Department, in Washington, D.C., where the book was opened for written tributes to Mrs. Reagan, who was 94 when she died on Sunday, March 6.
Nancy Davis Reagan was First Lady from January 1981 to January 1989 when her husband Ronald Wilson Reagan served as the 40th President of the United States. Mr. Reagan died in June 2004.
Ambassador Thomas signed the book on behalf of Jamaica, “to express our deep regret at the passing of a great American.”
In eulogizing the former First Lady, Ambassador Thomas expressed “deep admiration for Mrs. Reagan and her contribution to advocacy on many important issues including healthcare.” He noted that she was very supportive of many policies carried out under her husband’s presidency.
When President and Mrs. Reagan visited Jamaica April 7 to 8, 1982, he was the first sitting US president to have visited the Caribbean island.
“For Jamaica and the Caribbean, passage of the Caribbean Basin Initiative, which is still in effect, has provided opportunities for expansion of trade between Jamaica and the USA by providing duty-free access for certain products,” the Jamaican Ambassador said, pointing to the landmark trade arrangement ushered in under President Reagan.
“So it is with profound sadness that I express these sentiments at the time of her passing, and note that yesterday the International Women’s Day is also a fitting tribute to women in public life, like Mrs. Reagan,” Ambassador Thomas added, referring to the international commemoration of women on Tuesday.
Nancy Reagan will be buried by her husband’s side at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, on a hillside tomb looking out toward the Pacific Ocean, following funeral services scheduled for Friday, March 11.
