Government members paid tribute Tuesday to Deborah Susan Bodden, a lifelong civil servant, former director of the Commissions Secretariat and Cayman’s representative to the European Union, who passed away last month.
The mother-of-two passed away at University of Miami Hospital on 12 Aug., at the age of 44, her family has confirmed.
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson told the House that all in the civil service were saddened by Bodden’s passing, as he spoke of her long and distinguished tenure as a public servant.
He, and many of the other House members who shared their memories of Bodden, described her deep dedication to her work.
“She was known for her quick wit, for her dedication and integrity. She took great pride in doing her job at a very high level,” Manderson said.
But, she was also a very private person, he noted. “Many of us had no idea that she was sick. As a matter of fact, I can say with a high degree of confidence, that she managed those commissions from overseas while she was getting treatment and no one even realised she was not in the office because of her responsiveness and her ability to multi-task. I don’t think I’ve known anyone who could multi-task as well as Deb.”
Lifelong civil servant
He outlined her two-decade career as a public servant in Cayman.
“She joined the civil service in September 2002 as the counsellor at Caribbean Haven. She then moved to the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs, which is now the Deputy Governor’s Office, on 1st September 2007. She was an administrative officer too.
“In February 2010, when I was chief officer in that portfolio, I had the pleasure of appointing her as the manager of the Commissions Secretariat, which was set up to support the constitutional commissions that were set up under the new Constitution that came into force in 2009. That was the Constitutional Commission, the Human Rights Commission, the Judicial and Legal Services Commission, and the Commission for Standards in Public Life.
“She did such a great job in setting up those commissions, that we decided to give her some more work, and we added the Civil Service Appeals Commission and Anti-Corruption Commission to her workload. And she expertly managed those six commissions.”
In August 2021, she was appointed to be the Cayman Islands government’s overseas representative for the European Union, and was to have been posted to Brussels, Belgium, but had not made the move there before her passing.
Condolences were also expressed, via Manderson, by Governor Jane Owen and by former Governor Martyn Roper.
Roper said in his statement, read by the deputy governor, “Lissie and I are hugely saddened to learn of Debbie’s tragic passing. I’d worked with her very closely, as did previous governors, on many important and sensitive issues. She carried out her work duties in a highly diligent, consciousness and tactful manner and was a credit to the civil service. I was pleased to be able to award her a Certificate of Honour on establishing the commissions and her contributions to the good governance of the Cayman Islands.”
COVID work
Manderson had nominated Bodden for that award, not just for her work with the Commissions Secretariat, but also for her efforts during COVID-19.
“Obviously, the commissions were not functioning during COVID,” he said, “and she quickly pivoted to working many, many long hours, time away from her dear sons, managing isolation facilities and making sure people were being properly cared for. Debbie was not someone who wanted to stand still, she wanted to serve and make people’s lives better and she did that in a very special way.”
He added, “On behalf of all of us in the civil service, Her Excellency Governor Jane Owen and all members here, I want to offer sincere condolences to her family, especially her dear sons, Matthew and Alexander, who we all know she loved dearly.”
Always prepared
Minister for Financial Services and Commerce André Ebanks told the House that he had been left speechless and stunned by the news of the passing of “someone so vibrant, intelligent and articulate”.
He recalled a trip to Brussels in 2021 he made with Bodden, Cayman’s overseas representative to Asia Gene DaCosta, and Ebanks-Wilks, when she was parliamentary secretary for financial services.
It was that team’s first trip to Brussels, and Ebanks said he and the others had been nervous about meeting a very-high-ranking European Union official, but “Debbie was fearless, she did the profile, she did the background; she … made sure we were prepared. I think she was probably the least nervous out of the four of us, based on her over-20 years’ experience as a civil servant, she was ready, even if it was a field [in which] she did not have great experience; her process-driven mind did not allow her be nervous. She was determined, dedicated, detailed.”
Ebanks said he and many of Bodden’s colleagues “did not get a chance to say what we could have said” to her.
He added, “If she were here now, she should know that the Cayman Islands has lost an outstanding public servant, who made sure i’s were dotted, t’s were crossed, advice was given; whether you liked the advice or not, it was given and it was given in a full, frank and intelligent manner.”
Premier Wayne Panton described Bodden as a “fantastic person” who was a dedicated public servant and mother.
“One of the interesting things about her was having that incredible wit,” he said, “but she also had a very sharp tongue, as many will know, as many found out in unfortunate circumstances, and I remember at times having a laugh when she unleashed it on others, until the day she unleashed it on me. But it didn’t change my views of her, it didn’t change my respect for her… She was an absolutely dedicated person, and, as the deputy governor noted, throughout all of her illness, she performed at a very high level and most people would never had known what she was dealing with.”
Leader of the Opposition Roy McTaggart also described news of Bodden’s death as coming as a shock.
He said he had worked with her after she was appointed as the first manager of the Commissions Secretariat in 2010, when he was a member of the Standards in Public Life Commission.
“I always remember the dedication and the zeal, the commitment which Deborah brought to her position and her job. She was blazing a trail, she was setting up something new. She immersed herself in it,” he said.
He added, “She was the epitome of what it takes to be a world-class civil servant… She was that type of person. I was so happy when I heard that she was being selected for Brussels… she was so well prepared and made sure she was knowledgeable about what you was doing and what you were trying to accomplish, and I know she would have been a success over there. It’s unfortunate it did not pan out, but obviously she was truly sick, far sicker than we appreciated.
“All I can say for her and in terms of the work that she did is that we will remember her and will remember the example she has left for us all and the wider civil service as well.”
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