Mister President, I am especially grateful to have been afforded the opportunity on behalf of my side to say a few words in honour of our late friend and - may I also call her colleague - Yvonne Johnson.
    The older I get the more convinced I am that the real eternity lies in the people who remember you long after you are gone.  And Mr. President, we owe it to those who have touched our lives in any special or particular way to remember them.
     To say words of thanks and appreciation to Yvonne Johnson is easy for me.  I know her not only in a professional capacity but she knew me from I was a little boy.  She would not have been much older, but when I went to church at Holy Spirit Anglican Church in Chippingham, the Johnson family was already established their in membership.  And the family remembers fondly my brother Ian and myself.
     And then I got to know her as the accountant for the Cabinet Office when I worked at the Bahamas Information Services and later in the Office of the Prime Minister as a special assistant.  And she was honest, efficient and hard working.  Many days and nights were spent by Yvonne Johnson in ensuring that invitation lists were done on time and delivered properly, that the right procedures were followed, that the Government’s revenue was properly accounted for.
     She had the fortune of being able to boast that two Prime Ministers depended on her to get it right and she did.  They could always depend on Johnny.
     Mister President, the resolution passed unanimously by this Senate is but a small token of our esteem and appreciation for a dedicated civil servant.
She leaves behind a legacy of having run a good race.  When I went to see her in hospital after she became ill, I tried hard to will that she would be well and up again.  When she returned to work here at the Senate, I breathed a sigh of relief.  But that was not to be.  Life as you know is one of constant and dynamic change.  And try as we might to keep things the way they are, the world continues to turn and we must turn with it.  No one is safe.
     But when the moment arises and we have our time on the stage, we must step up to the plate and do what we can.  I think that is what Yvonne Johnson leaves behind for her children.  She loved Marlon and loved Hope.  Hope is on her way to becoming a lawyer.  Marlon has established himself in the public service and is going on to make a name for himself in public service with the work of the NGO Safe Bahamas.  It is what we would all wish for our children.  And indeed she was fortunate to be able to see them get to the point where basically they could fend for themselves.  And so, though we miss her, they will miss her more.
     And what then does this all mean for us?  It means that we must seek to rededicate ourselves to the same ideals for which she lived and for which she stood.  Not flamboyance or scene stealing, just quietly doing her job.  Not hogging all the information but sharing and passing on one’s learning to another generation.  Would that we all are able to say the same when it has come our time to exit the stage.
     And so I wish on behalf of this side, and I am sure this is a sentiment shared by all, that we thank Yvonne Johnson for her life of service to this country and to this Senate.  We thank you most sincerely.  We thank your family, your mother, your sisters and brother, your children.  We thank you all for lending her to us for the twenty or more years that she served in this place.  We pray for the repose of her soul and we ask God to continue his richest blessings upon you all!