By Nelson A. King
Brooklyn resident Idabelle Violeta
Conchita “Connie” Louis, the
newly-elected vice president of
the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent
and the Grenadines Ex-Teachers
Association of New York, Inc.,
succumbed to cancer on Oct. 12.
She was 72.
Louis – a former elementary
school teacher at the Clare Valley
and Questelles Government
Schools in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines; erstwhile employee
at the then Manufacturers Hanover
Trust Bank, renamed Chase
Bank, in New York; and retired
employee at New York’s Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
(MTA) — was diagnosed with an
undisclosed cancer in October
2019, according to her obituary.
She “fought bravely until her
passing,” it says.
The first of two funeral services
took place on Oct. 30 at New
Hope Worship Center, 817 Livonia
Ave., Brooklyn.
The other service will take
place in Clare Valley on Nov. 21,
immediately followed by interment
at the nearby Chauncey
Cemetery, according to Louis’s
niece, Laurel Dawn Dopwell
Louis, a Brooklyn resident.
Louis, who was born on Oct.
20, 1947, attended the Clare Valley
and Questelles Government
schools.
On attaining the School Leaving
Certificate from the Questelles
Government School, at 16,
she accepted teaching positions
at the Clare Valley Government
School, then at the Questelles
Government School, where she
taught until migrating to the
United States.
In New York, she worked at
MHT for 17 years, “where she
experienced two major mergers
and corporation name changes,”
according to the obituary.
While working at MHT, Louis
earned a bachelor’s degree in public
administration, from Brooklyn’s
Medgar Evers College, City
University of New York, in 1997.
Afterwards, she gained employment
at the MTA, first as a train
conductor, then as a tower operator.
She retired from the MTA in
Caribbean Life, N 20 OVEMBER 20-26, 2020
2014.
“Conchita’s love for her people
and her country was manifested
in the fact that she supported
numerous Vincentian organizations
with her time, energy and
resources,” the obituary says.
“She also took local children
under her tutelage.”
As a young girl, Louis attended
the Wesleyan Holiness Church in
Clare Valley.
She re-dedicated her life to
Christ, was baptized on Nov. 17,
2017, and became an active member
of the New Hope Family Worship
Center.
“While speaking with her, you
would have never known she was
ill,” the obituary says. “Her voice
remained strong, she kept up her
usual routine, and maintained
her ‘everything will work out’
attitude.
“Even with the rigors of her
appointment and treatment
schedule, she still made time for
family and friends,” it adds.
In paying tribute to Louis at
the funeral service, at New Hope
Worship Center, Jackson Farrell,
Idabelle Violeta Conchita “Connie” Louis. Laurel Dawn Dopwell
Louis
president of the St. Vincent
Ex-Teachers Association of New
York, Inc., said she was, among
other things, “loving, caring reliable,
giving.”
“She loved sharing, she loved
giving,” said Farrell, a retired public
school teacher in New York.
Brooklyn ex-teachers’ top
executive succumbs to cancer
Bill de Blasio
Mayor
Dave A. Chokshi, MD, MSc
Commissioner