The Tribune

BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

In observance of the United Nation’s International Women’s Day 2021, the International Federation of Women’s Lawyers (FIDA) Grand Bahama Chapter announced plans to highlight Senior Justice Estelle G. Gray-Evans.

“Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world,” is the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day, which is being observed on March 8.

Freeport attorney Hadassah Swain, regional vice president North America FIDA, says that the GB Chapter joins with the UN in celebrating the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We take this opportunity to spotlight a woman in leadership who epitomises the goals and objectives of FIDA and UN WOMEN, the Honourable Senior Justice Estelle G. Gray Evans,” she said.

Ms Swain said FIDA Grand Bahama Chapter is proud to salute Justice Evans as its Woman in Leadership – “a woman who continues to make a positive impact on the lives of women and children, particularly girls, in her community,” she said.

Justice Evans, a native of Forbes Hill, Exuma, attended Prince William Baptist High School, Nassau. She went to Shaw Business College in Toronto, Canada, and the College (now University) of the Bahamas.

Evans was admitted to practice as a Counsel and Attorney-at-Law in The Commonwealth of The Bahamas on December 16, 1988, after articling in the law firm of Callenders & Co., the firm with which she also served as secretary, bookkeeper, office manager (September 1974 to December 1988), and associate attorney from December 1988 - December 1994.

Justice Evans joined the Public Service and served as the first Acting Assistant Registrar, then Acting Deputy Registrar, of the newly opened Supreme Court in the Northern Region, during the period March 7, 1994, to June 30, 1994.

Justice Evans returned to private practice, but in January 1995 went back to the Public Service serving the dual role of Acting Stipendiary and Circuit Magistrate and Deputy Registrar of the Supreme Court, Northern Region. She served in the former position for one year, and in the latter until April 1999 when she relocated to New Providence to take up the position of Project Coordinator for the computerisation of the Courts, a post she held until February 28, 2004. Evans was appointed Registrar of the Supreme Court on March 2004 - the first female to hold that substantive post, and served in that position until August 31, 2007, when she was appointed, to act as a Justice of the Supreme Court on September 1, 2007.

Justice Evans was later confirmed in her appointment on November 1, 2008. She was appointed a Senior Justice on January 1, 2019. She also acted as Chief Justice of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas on three occasions in December 2018, April 2019, and February 2020, due to the absence on leave of the substantive holders of that post.

Justice Evans is the daughter of Mrs. Shirley Weech. She is married to former Assistant Commissioner of Police Shannondor H. Evans. They have five children, ten grandchildren, one great-grandchild. Justice Evans is a Christian and currently worships at Beth-El Ministries which is pastored by her son, Rev’d Adrian Bethel.

Her community activities include the establishment and operation of Grace House, a half-way house for pregnant teens and their babies, in Freeport, Grand Bahama, from August 1998 through 2007. During that time, 48 young women and several of their babies were assisted with shelter – some short-term and others as long as 18 months.

Evans still maintains contact with some of the young women and their children whom she considers as her “grands”. She continues to work with some of the young women and their children, assisting as she can by providing a full four-year scholarship to one of her “grands” and partial scholarships to two others.

Through her church, Beth-El Ministries, Evans coordinates the bi-monthly rummage and give-away of clothing and household items to persons in need in Grand Bahama.