The voice of the voiceless - Peggy Martin remembered

Curtis Campbell, Gleaner Writer

International veteran politician and member of the entertainment fraternity, the Hon Peggy Smith Martin, is dead.

Martin was an avid supporter of Jamaican popular culture and dedicated several years of her life in the early 1980s to promoting Jamaica's music and culture.

According to Ephraim Martin, president of the International Reggae and World Music Awards, in a release sent to The Gleaner, Martin was one of the voices of the voiceless.

"On behalf of my family, Martin's International, the Chicago Music Awards, the International Reggae and World Music Awards, and the International Festival of Life, I would like to express our deepest and sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Hon Peggy Smith Martin, who made her transition on August 24, 2012. Martin was an outstanding voice for the voiceless and for oppressed people everywhere," Ephraim Martin wrote.

Peggy Martin is said to have visited Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean more than 80 times, where she executed developmental projects.

The deceased is credited for adopting a children's home in the region and, in the process, assisting hundreds of needy children.

Peggy Martin was honoured in the Caribbean region in the 1970s, when a villa along Jamaica's north coast tourist resorts was named 'Peggy's Pad' in honour of her humanitarian contributions to the needy.

Ephraim Martin also revealed that Peggy Martin played an important role in getting local artistes the opportunity to promote themselves in the United States. According to Ephraim, she extended several invitations for local artistes to perform in Chicago in the early 1980s.

Peggy Smith Martin was also a member of the Democratic Party. At the time of her passing, she was looking forward to the upcoming United States general election set for November 2012.