Do you remember, Oneida?

On Monday evening, May 2, 2008, at the Grand Ballroom of the Rose Hall Resort, in a most calid ceremony, ACURIL paid homage to Mrs. Oneida Rivera de Ortiz, for her services to the organization from Executive Secretary to Executive Director 1971-2008.

Mrs. Adele Merritt Bernard, ACURIL President, chaired the ceremony. Past Presidents Jean Wilfrid Bertrand (Haiti), Astrid Britten (Aruba), Stephney Ferguson (Jamaica) and Lucero Arboleda de Roa (Dominican Republic), representing the French, Dutch, English and Spanish speaking area members of the organization, commended Mrs. Rivera de Ortiz’s work and expressed their sincere appreciation for her commitment and dedication throughout the years. Best wishes for success and happiness in the future were expressed.

A special presentation entitled Mrs. Oneida Rivera de Ortiz, 1971-2008: Do you remember? was made by ACURIL’s CARIBBEANA Team : Yadira Avendaño-Avendaño, Cindy Jiménez-Vera, Arelys Fernández-Troche and Yumarys Polanco-Almonte, through a podcast and a slideshow.

In a most emotive response, Oneida Ortiz expressed herself as follows:

My dear ACURILEAN friends. All that I can say is Thank you. I express my gratitude to ACURIL for so many good “things” I have received from ACURIL during all these years I have dedicated to this Association. Among those, just to mention some, I had the opportunity to meet and forge friendship with so many colleagues. I can say that I have friends from all the archipelago. I have learned about the profession far beyond if I had taken courses in comparative librarianship, to know about cultures, historiography, and folklore of the Caribbean; and particularly about one of my hobbies, cooking, since I learned about Caribbean cuisine.

I cannot forget that during my days of extreme sorrow, ACURIL and Acurileans helped me emotionally. I am deeply thankful.

My satisfaction and my privilege is to have contributed to the growth and development of our dear ACURIL from newborn in 1969 to its adulthood, to see most of our goals fulfilled. It is to the young generation to keep it growing further, to evaluate and seek new objectives so that ACURIL will always be the Star of the profession in the Caribbean.

May God bless you all and guide our Association to be that Star in this era of challenges to our information profession. ACURIL will always be in my heart and in my memory, and who is ACURIL? You are.

ACURIL, My gratitude again and love to all.

A bouquet of flowers, an album with different expressions of friends and other gifts were given to Oneida by Executive Councilors Carmen Santos-Corrada and Barry Baker. Tokens of appreciation were presented by ACURIL president Merritt Bernard and past president Pedro Padilla-Rosa. A special reception followed where Acurileans expressed their respects.