Mustique Community Hall Named After Educator Who Served the Island for Nearly 50 Years

By S.Browne. Updated 11:38 a.m., Wednesday, April 15, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).

The Mustique Community Hall has been named in honour of Ms Doreen Simon, an educator who served the island for nearly 50 years, in recognition of her contribution to education and public service.

The renaming was carried out by the Mustique Indigenous Peoples Association (MIPA) during a ceremony held on Saturday, April 11, 2026, on Mustique.

MIPA said the decision reflects Ms Simon’s decades of service in education and public life. It also noted that she is the first indigenous resident to have a community landmark named in her honour.

Ms Simon, who was born on November 14 1933, served the Mustique community for close to 50 years as a teacher, postmistress, and headmistress.

She was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness and was represented by family members. Her son Mr Conrad Simon said the proposal to rename the hall was made by Mr Hamlet Trimmingham at a MIPA meeting and was approved unanimously. He said the decision also received endorsement from Mustique Company Ltd.

Managing Director Mr Roger Pritchard said Ms Simon’s influence extended across generations on the island. “Teachers play a very important part in our lives, and as you heard, she was a teacher here on the island for nearly 50 years, from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s,” he said. “And there’ll be many people here who were taught by Doreen, and there are many people overseas, as you heard, who have been taught by Doreen.”

He added that her influence went beyond the classroom and helped shape the wider community. “And whether it’s six, seven, eight years through junior school, primary school, before going back to the mainland, teachers have a big impact on our lives. The heart and soul of this island is the people who live and work on the island, and that’s a lot of the people who are here in the audience today,” he explained.

Mr Pritchard indicated that Ms Simon’s impact continues to be felt through those she taught over the years. “And for those of you who were influenced, mentored, taught by Doreen, I am sure a little bit of Doreen has rubbed off on you, and that’s rubbed off on the island because we are very fortunate to have such a strong community and such strong personalities like Doreen,” he stated.

He added: “So I would like to thank everybody here for your contribution to Mustique and to the community. I would like to thank Doreen for being a very important part of the development and the evolution of the community.”

MIPA, which represents the interests of Mustique’s approximately 150 indigenous residents, plus migrants and their offspring, plans to honour another community icon soon.

END

This information was sourced from a press release sent to us by Mr. Conrad Simon.