In 1980, I began a short-lived career as the first speech pathologist at the Lighthouse School, Grand Cayman’s government school for children with disabilities. Due to my husband’s serious medical condition, we were forced to move back to the United States before the end of my first year of service.

It’s too bad I did not know about Annie’s Place before now, but Miss Annie could probably tell you how the Lighthouse School began in a church in West Bay. Thanks to its volunteers, I think they were called the Pink Ladies, a “home away from home” was founded so the children could spend their days in an academically-enriched environment. Every Friday we had “class” on Seven Mile Beach, and for lunch the children ate donated meat from the Turtle Farm.

Recruited as the afternoon bus [van] driver because I lived in Cayman Kai, I often joked my drive to work was longer than anyone else who lived on a 22-mile long island! However, it gave me plenty of travel time to pinch myself that my job was on Grand Cayman.

During the past several decades I have seen via the Cayman Compass how the Lighthouse School has grown into a proper educational setting. Those are the kinds of historical stories about Cayman I love to hear.

Grand Cayman – congratulations on your decades-long journey improving life for your citizens with special needs. It has also been particularly heartwarming to learn about Cayman’s advances in mental health services and advocacy, which fill many of my days in retirement. Keep up the great work.

And Miss Annie, thank you for educating thousands of tourists who learned about your beautiful islands from “back in the day,” thanks to you!

Kay York