27 Facts About Gladys Bustamante

Gladys Bustamante was a prominent member of the Jamaican trade union movement, and was affectionately known as "Lady B".

Gladys Bustamante has been called the "Mother of the Nation" due to her relationship with many of Jamaica's founders.

Gladys Bustamante was born out of wedlock as Gladys Maud Longbridge on 8 March 1912 in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, to Frank Longbridge, a farmer, and Rebecca Blackwood, a housewife.

Gladys Bustamante's aunt moved with the girl to Kingston, where they lived in the city's Jones Town neighborhood.

Gladys Bustamante pronounced her name "Glad Ice" and called her "Miss G" at the time.

Gladys Bustamante later founded the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union.

Gladys Bustamante served as his secretary through his years as a trade unionist and as a politician, until he became Prime Minister of Jamaica in 1962.

Gladys Bustamante travelled extensively with Bustamante throughout Jamaica to deal with the concerns of the islands' workers.

Gladys Bustamante played a prominent role in the founding of the Jamaica Labour Party by Alexander Bustamante in July 1943.

Gladys Bustamante lost the election, which pleased her as she had reluctantly agreed to seek elected office.

Gladys Bustamante remained the first Prime Minister of Jamaica until his resignation in 1967 due to ill health.

Gladys Bustamante had been effectively incapacitated for the last two years of his premiership due to illness.

Gladys Bustamante described herself as "paralysed with grief" following her husband's death.

Gladys Bustamante coped with her husband's death by becoming deeply involved with Jamaican charitable causes.

Gladys Bustamante became a patron of the Gladys Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston, named for her husband.

Gladys Bustamante worked to improve the standard of living for workers in Jamaica's shipping ports and sugarcane communities.

Gladys Bustamante worked to improve the lives of impoverished children and their families.

Gladys Bustamante later converted to Roman Catholicism, her husband's religion.

Gladys Bustamante received a number of domestic and international awards for her work.

Gladys Bustamante was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 1982.

Gladys Bustamante continued to hold the title of honorary treasurer of the Gladys Bustamante Industrial Trade Union at the time of her death in 2009.

Gladys Bustamante was a trustee and executive member of the Jamaica Labour Party that her husband had founded.

Gladys Bustamante had been ill for several years and had been confined to her Irish Town home for the last two years of her life.

Gladys Bustamante was rushed to the hospital by her caregivers.

Gladys Bustamante lay in state at both the BITU headquarters and the Jamaica Labour Party headquarters on 4 August 2009.

Gladys Bustamante was moved to the National Indoor Sports Centre for viewing on 7 August 2009.

Gladys Bustamante was interred alongside her husband, Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante, at the National Heroes Park in Kingston, Jamaica.