Some 16 miles from Island Harbour, where the 1967 Anguilla Revolution had its beginnings, West End resident, Mrs. Ironica Theodora (Dora) Bryan, penned the song: “We’re out to build a new Anguilla”. Sung to the tune of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”, the marching song had become a popular anthem in the schools and the community of Anguilla.
That song won Mrs. Bryan a Medal of Honour and a Queen’s Certificate, an award mainly reserved for persons who significantly contributed to the Anguilla Revolution. As a further consequence, she was accorded a National Funeral – with all the attendant pomp and ceremony – on Sunday, December 18, at the Mount Fortune Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In addition to being highly regarded for the revolutionary song, the 92-year-old staunch Seventh-day Adventist was described as “an entrepreneur, organist, pianist, teacher, seamstress and an activist”.
After living and serving in Anguilla for many years, she migrated to the United States in 2012. She died on November 30, 2016. The National Funeral was attended by many people from throughout the island a number of whom paid tribute to her.
Anguilla’s Minister of Home Affairs, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, then Acting Chief Minister, spoke on behalf of the Government of Anguilla. “The late Dora Bryan, as she was popularly known, like many of the Anguillian women at that time, was very active and vocal in the protests that followed the British invasion of the island on 19th March, 1969,”she recalled. “It was women like her who contributed to the success of the Anguilla Revolution.”
Referring to We are out to build a new Anguilla, Mrs. Richardson-Hodge said the song called for action by the people of the island to do their part in rebuilding it for future generations. She stated that the gathering of the Government and people at a national service was usually aimed at paying tribute to a legacy of dedication, bravery and service by those who were willing to risk life and limb in defence of Anguilla.
The officiating Clergy at Mrs. Bryan’s funeral were Resident Minister for the SDA Anguilla Church District; and visiting Ministers from the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Dr. Henry Peters, who delivered the sermon, and Pastor Maurice Andrews.
The freedom fighter’s body was borne in and out of the church by a contingent of the Royal Anguilla Police Force, as well as to the Long Bay Seventh-day Adventist Church-yard Cemetery from a nearby area in that district. There was a gun salute of three rounds by a police firing party as the casket, covered by the National Flag of Anguilla, was being prepared for the interment. Flags were flown at half-mast on the day preceding the funeral and on the actual day of the event as a mark of respect to her passing.
