The Tribune

Members of the Anglican Diocesan Office held a special luncheon on Friday afternoon to celebrate, recognise and thank Juanita Nairn Grant, administrative assistant to Bishop Laish Boyd, for 40 years of outstanding service to the Anglican Diocese. Mrs Grant has been employed with the Diocese of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands since March 12, 1973, and has had the distinction of having worked with all three Bahamian Diocesan Bishops.

Joining in the celebrations were Bishops Boyd and Thompson, Chancellor Bernard Turner, Diocesan Treasurer Emeritus Basil Sands, Diocesan staff and members of Mrs Grant’s family. The highlight of the event was a special rendition of “Your, Once, Three Times a Lady” by Archdeacon James Palacious.

Ms Grant recapped the last four decades of her life saying “how time flies”, and shared how her employment at the Diocesan office helped in her growth and development.

According to Mrs Grant, when she was employed at the Diocesan office on March 12, 1973, at the young age of 19 years, the total staff complement was five employees - the late Bishop Michael Eldon, who had become Bishop in 1971, Father Etienne Bowleg (Diocesan Secretary/Treasurer), Rudolph Duncombe (Bookkeeper), Henry Glinton (Messenger/Gardener), and her. Later they were joined by the late Archdeacon Murillo Bonaby and his secretary. Today the Diocese has 27 full-time employees.

Over the past 40 years Grant has also seen the evolution of technology in all aspects of her work. Her first typewriter was a manual typewriter with a carriage about two feet long.

“There was the typewriter eraser to correct mistakes on originals and, yes, carbons too. There was the spirit duplicator for making copies which was eventually replaced with the ink duplicator. How tedious the tasks were back then. Those equipment have evolved into the computer, photocopier and the ‘white out’, making the tasks easier”, said Grant.

Grant said that although she has held the same position for 40 years, due to the fact that she worked with three different Bishops, each change in boss was like going to a new job.

“I have had three bosses – the late Bishop Michael Eldon, Archbishop Drexel Gomez and Bishop Laish Boyd. Bishop Eldon and Archbishop Gomez were very supportive and Bishop Boyd continues to be a very supportive boss. They each brought different personalities and methods of operation”, said Grant.

She added that as administrative assistant to Archbishop Gomez, who also served as Archbishop of the Province of the West Indies, she received international exposure by travelling to parts of the Caribbean like Jamaica and Barbados to work at conferences. This allowed be to meet the other Bishops and the provincial secretaries of the eight dioceses. Grant added that her exposure did not end there as she had occasions to meet persons of the worldwide Anglican Communion from the United States, Canada and England when they travelled to Nassau on business or vacation.

“I was able to put faces to names of persons who I had been communicating with via letters, emails and the telephone’, said Grant.

There is no doubt that with Mrs Grant’s personality, discipline and work ethic, she would have excelled at any career. Her ambition was to become an attorney, but she placed this goal on hold in order to educate her two children. “My aim was to get them to stand on their own feet. This was more important to me. Today, I am a proud parent of two – Jamaal who is in his 5th year at Sanpin Motors as a mechanic, having trained at Universal Technical Institute in Orlando, Florida. My daughter, Tiffany, returned home recently having attended the University of King’s College in Halifax, Canada, graduating with a BA Honours degree in Journalism. She is presently employed on a 6-month contractual basis in the Communications Department at the College of the Bahamas,” said Mrs Grant.

Grant said that she never gets bored with her job because she is required to interact with the clergy and laity from across the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos. She paid special mention to all who have supported her over the years.

Quoting two favourite scripture verses, “I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11) and “I can do all things through (Christ) who strengthens me” (Philippians4:13), Grant said that she has accepted that God has planted her at the Diocesan office, and that she has bloomed over the past forty years.

“If someone told me that I would be making this speech on my 40th Anniversary, I would have responded: You have to be crazy, I would not stay in one place for that long. How time flies, and here I am today. I have no regrets, only a grateful heart”, said Mrs Grant.