The Tribune

ARIEN Rolle shared his feelings over the death of his mother, influential Bahamian playwright, poet and teacher Telcine Turner-Rolle, with his Facebook community over the weekend.

Mrs Turner-Rolle, who died on Thursday at the age of 67, was married to Bahamian artist James O Rolle and their only child expressed his love for his mother and thanked those who send condolences.

He wrote: "To my mother, Telcine Turner-Rolle, I thank you for everything you continue to be to me, for the paradox that you were - simple and complex. I thank you for the powerful, pure joy you found in things that were not worth a second look from others.

"I thank you for trusting me to be advisor to you (hardly any greater privilege for a son). I thank you for being uncompromising (and uncompromised).

"I thank you for keeping it real. I thank you for being such a dynamic half of a 38-year relationship template. I thank you for loving me so much that it often left you afraid. But we know that fear could never author the beautiful, triumphant story of your life.

"You were loved more than you could ever fully comprehend -- by so many you never knew or met. And you continue to inspire the best in me and challenge those traits that I seek to change."

Best known for her award winning play Woman Take Two, which is still used in the BGCSE literature exam, Ms Turner-Rolle, in her capacities as a writer of different genres and former educator, helped to set the standard in Bahamian arts.

She was also very active in theater in the Bahamas, becoming part of the Bahamas Drama Circle in the 1970s.

Born in New Providence on December 3, 1944, Ms Turner went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Diploma in Education from the University of the West Indies; a Masters degree in Theatre focused in directing from Northwestern University; and a diploma in Writing for Children and Teenagers from the Institute of Children's Literature.

Offering condolences to Ms Turner Rolle's family, the Free National Movement in a statement said she was an important literary voice.

The statement said: "In addition to her well-known play, Woman Take Two, which was a winner of the Playwriting Prize in the University of the West Indies 25th Anniversary Literary Competition, Mrs Turner-Rolle also wrote Song of the Surreys, a book of poems for children, and two collections of children's short stories, Once Below a Time and Climbing Clouds."

Mrs Turner-Rolle taught briefly at the high-school level, at the former Bahamas Teachers' College and the College of the Bahamas.