Sun | Jun 28, 2026

US ambassador to retire

Published:Friday | September 20, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Pause
Honorine Amoussou (foreground), special guest, showed some of her designs during a mini fashion show at the meeting.
Christopher Degnan, public affairs officer at the United States Embassy, explains the pieces on display for the Art in Embassies exhibition displayed throughout the residence of the United States ambassador to Jamaica. Listening keenly are from left: Norma Harrack, Jennifer Lim, and Carole Hadeed.
Some of the pieces of artwork from Jamaica and other countries where outgoing United States Ambassador Pamela Bridgewater has served.
Businesswoman Maureen Shaw (left) speaks with Deb Shill (centre) and Norma Harrack, eminent Jamaican sculptress.
Pamela Bridgewater (left), outgoing United States ambassador to Jamaica, has a word with Diane Grant, president of the American Friends of Jamaica. - Ricardo Makyn Photograph
1
2
3
4
5

Barbara Ellington, Public Affairs Editor

Pamela Bridgewater, United States ambassador to Jamaica, has announced her retirement which will come at the end of her three-year tour of duty in two months. Speaking at the meeting of the American Women's Group (AWG), on Monday, Bridgewater said, "I will be retiring after 38 years and will reflect on a career that has taken me to 72 cities worldwide." She arrived in Jamaica in October 2010.

She pointed to South Africa's trasition from apartheid to self-government and her position as an official election observer as one of the highlights of her career, But in her parting words to the AWG, she urged the group of influential women to, "show the way and pay it forward." She said that if they know how to do something, they should show others so that they too can be something in life.

LIVING BY EXAMPLE

And as if to signify that she was living by example, she introduced her friend, Honorine Amoussou, a fashion designer from Benin, Africa, who presented a mini-fashion show featuring some of her original designs. They were modelled by members of the AWG.

This year, the AWG will continue to help with the education of Jamaica's children by awarding in excess of 10 scholarships, several book vouchers, and other well-needed supplies to the less fortunate.