Margaret Child from Day Care on pension

On Thursday, March 7, the Public Entity Saba bade farewell to Margaret Child as she began her well-deserved retirement.

Margaret served as Day Care Manager on Saba for the last 23 years and began working there when the facility opened in October 1996, then called the Care Bears Day Care with a total of five care givers. Care Bears had an enrollment of three children on the first day, but this number quickly multiplied to 35 children during the first year.

With Margaret at the helm, there were many developments at the Day Care. In the early years, the staff was assisted and trained by Henriette van Heijnsburg, Hemmie van Xanten, the late Frank Hassell, Angela Dekker and others. Dave Levenstone also supported the Day Care in that period.

The Day Care first operated as a foundation with a board, subsequently under the School Board for one year and on October 1, 2009 the Day Care began operating under the Island Government. In 2001 the Executive Council issued a proclamation to name the building that housed the Day Care after Laura Linzey. The Day Care was renamed the Laura Linzey Day Care Center and currently it has a staff of 12, soon to be increased to 14, with 62 children enrolled. The current capacity is 72 children.

Margaret has offered dedicated years of service to the Day Care and has received training on St. Maarten, St. Kitts, St. Eustatius, Curaçao and the United States. She is the only certified High-Scope Trainer on Saba. Margaret passed on the baton to Tessa Samuel-Alexander, who started in November 2018.

“I thoroughly enjoyed what I did. It was an enjoyable 23-year journey and I will continue giving and serving the Day Car in whatever way I can,” said Margaret about her job. “Margaret is a friend and more than a colleague, which sometimes made it difficult to remember that she was our boss. I truly enjoyed working with her,” said Shiela Soares, one of Margaret’s first colleagues at the Day Care.

“I love working with Margaret. She is a great and loving person. When I started at the Day Care, she treated me like her own. We may have had our ups and downs, but she was always there when needed,” said care giver Movida Williams.

“Over the years, working with Margaret, I learned very much from her. She motivated me to complete the vocational day care training. I got tired and very frustrated, and was at the point of quitting, but Margaret encouraged me to keep going. We continued and completed the course successfully. Margaret, thank you for being there for me and everything that we were taught,” said care giver and assistant to the manager Samantha Ryner-Linzey.