OLIVE WALKE
Olive Walke, MBE(21 December 1911 – 10 September 1969) was a Trinidadian musician and ethnomusicologist who was one of the first to collect regional Caribbean folk songs. She founded the well-known choir, La Petite Musicale and directed it for many years. Between 1961 and 1966, she served as a Senator in the first Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago established after its independence. In December 1939, she founded a choral group called "La Petite Musicale", originally as a seasonal choir which performed traditional Christmas carols; the group met in Walke's home, where they would rehearse and then, renting a bus, the choir sang carols at various homes in the community. Soon after the new year, the group began to focus on the traditional folk music of Trinidad and Tobago, when Walke took members of the group to the rural areas of Trinidad and Tobago, they travelled to Blanchisseuse, Guaico Tamana, Sangre Grande and Scarborough on Tobago to learn local folk songs in rural parts of the island. Village people would teach the choir members the songs, tell them of the background of the songs and Walke would take notes, she then transcribed and arranged the songs as performance pieces. She was one of the first to research and formally perform folk music in the Caribbean, bringing focus to the importance of the genre, with its traditional Creole languages and instruments. n 1962, the year that Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain, Walke was appointed as senator in the first Parliament of the new nation, she focused most of her attention in that body to improving education and advancing cultural development in the country. In 1969, the inaugural year of the Hummingbird Medal, Walke received the Gold Medal for her contributions of devoted service to the country
GLORIA HENRY
HENRY, Gloria was born on April 20, 1946.
Daughter of Ralph Springer and Norma Springer. She was a member of Talipa House before becoming politically active in 1976 and lost the Arima seat.. Some later she joined the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), and won the Arouca South seat in 1986. Her portfolio includes .Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of External Trade and Tourism, 1986. Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Enterprise and Tourism, 1987. Minister of Social Development and Family Services, 1988-1990.
Minister of Education, since 1990. Member, Exec, of the Inter-American Commission of Women, 1989-1990. Member, Board of Directors, InterAmerican Parliamentary Group on Population and Development.
EUGENIA THEODOSIA PIERRE "JEAN"
Born on March 26, 1944. Pierre was an outstanding netball player who played on the highly decorated 1979 T&T netball team that shared the World Championship with Australia and New Zealand. She later became a government sports minister in Trinidad from 1991 to 1995. In recognition of her contributions to netball in T&T, the Jean Pierre sports complex in Port-of-Spain was named after her.