Elmira Minita Gordon

Dame Elmira Minita Gordon (30 December 1930 – 1 January 2021) was a Belizean educator, psychologist and politician; she served as the first governor general of Belize from its independence in 1981 until 1993. She was the first Belizean to receive a doctorate in psychology. She is one of the few "double dames", having received damehoods in two separate orders: the Order of St Michael and St George and the Royal Victorian Order.

She was the first woman to serve as governor-general in the history of the Commonwealth.

Biography

Elmira Minita Gordon was born 30 December 1930 in Belize City, British Honduras. Her parents, Frederick Gordon and May Dakers, had immigrated from Jamaica to Lucky Strike, Belize, in the 1920s. Gordon had five siblings: Lincoln Coyi, Dorinda Henderson, Kelorah Franklin, Rolston Coyi, and Robert Reyes. Years later, in 1970 Gordon became the District Commissioner of the Girl Guides for the Belize district. From 1969 to 1981, she served as a Government Education Officer.

Gordon graduated from the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, with a B.Ed. (1967) and an M.Ed. (1969) specialising in educational psychology. She completed postgraduate studies at the University of Nottingham and University of Birmingham in England. becoming the first trained Belizean psychologist. She succeeded James P. I. Hennessy, the last Governor of Belize. She became the first Governor-General of Belize upon Belize gaining independence that year.

Gordon became a justice of the peace in 1974 In later years, poor health prompted her to move to the United States in 2016 to live with her sister, Kelorah Franklin.

Honours

Honorary LL.D., University of Victoria (1984)