Alesia Edwards
Sandra Touzalin Butler is a powerful woman of God. She is a humanitarian who has a very big and kind heart. Her infectious smile and pleasant personality make it very easy for people to become attached to this talented woman who has been very successful, not only in the insurance industry but also in education.
Mrs. Touzalin Butler is seen by many as being very graceful and she owes that to her very early upbringings, where she was always kept in line by her uncle, Neville Peart, who was principal of the Lime Hall Primary School and a well-respected member of the community.
“He was very particular, the fact you were his child, it’s almost as if he had to set the precedence, you couldn’t do anything wrong,” she shared as she recalled her very early upbringing.
Born in Albert Town Trelawny, Sandra’s biological parents had ten children, five girls, five boys. Her uncle and his wife adopted her at an early age and she started her early education at Moneague Primary before her uncle was transferred to Lime Hall Primary.
At age 10 she was sent off to boarding school after acing the then Common Entrance Examination, for St. Hilda’s Diocesan for Girls in Brown’s Town. That institution
influenced her life in many ways over the five years she spent there until her uncle again changed school and the family relocated to Kingston where she completed her secondary education at Alpha Academy
What she can remember though is that while in Lime Hall everyone treated her special because she was the principal’s daughter.
The special treatment to which she was accustomed didn’t exist at St. Hilda’s, considered then as a school for the very privileged. “People looked at us differently because we came from primary schools, as against the others who came from prep schools,” she recalled.
Boarding provided for her many life lessons. There were many rules and regulations she had to adhere to. Rules that had to do with posture, etiquette and social graces. She confesses that at the time she considered them just too much but they have helped to make her into the lady she is.
“We had strict rules,” she recalled. “ It was more like a finishing school at the time. It was how you walked, how you talked, how you ate at the table …” Boarding also taught her to be responsible and appreciate many things about life including people’s time.
After completing the final year of high school at Alpha Academy, Sandra Touzalin Butler explained that she had had enough of boarding and the stern classroom settings so she refused to attend sixth form. Instead, she entered Shortwood Teachers College as a late freshman.
She has not regretted studying teaching as it took her to several schools including her alma mater, where she taught English, history and dance for many years. She also taught at Crescent All Age, Bernard Lodge Primary and was a pioneer teacher at Jose Marti Technical in St. Catherine.
As part of her training she also attended the then Cultural Training Centre, now named Edna Manley School of the Performing Arts where she received professional training in dance and a Diploma in Dance Education.
RETURN TO ST ANN
While in Kingston, Mrs Touzalin Butler got married and started her family. Her husband wanted to settle in St. Ann so her family returned to the parish where she began teaching at St. Hilda’s.
After several years at that school, she gave up her job as a teacher and entered the insurance industry, as she needed something that would provide more flexibility and time for her three young children, including a pair of twins.
INSURANCE SUCCESSES
For 15 years Mrs Touzalin Butler operated an office from her home in Discovery Bay, working as a marketing agent for Insurance Company of the West Indies (ICWI), while at the same time being actively involved in her children’s life.
She explained that when the children were grown and had settled well in high school she returned to Brown’s Town and set up her own office. She worked from that office for many years until ICWI officially opened an office in Brown’s Town.
She took a short break from the ICWI and worked for a brokerage where she started the Jamaica Cidadel Insurance Brokers office in Brown’s Town. She left the Broker to return to ICWI in 2004 when they officially opened their office and she assumed the role of manager. For several years she managed both the Brown’s Town and Ocho Rios offices. She now manages only the Brown’s Town office.
Ms Touzalin Butler has described as very rewarding her 29 years in the Insurance Industry. She said her clients have remained very important and dear to her.
Her many awards covering her outstanding performance as both marketing agent and manager include trophies for Agent of the Year, The Chairman’s Trophy and the General Manager’s Trophy. These reflect only a small part of her success in the industry.
Mrs Touzalin Butler has had to overcome many challenges to get to where she is today. One of them, which today remains a private pain for her, was the tragic death of her daughter Toniann Touzalin in December 1998, just two months shy of her 16th birthday.
TRAGEDY
Young Toniann was washed away by flood waters along the Dunbarton Road as the family made their way home from a church function.
They had exited their vehicle to assist another motorist who was in distress when a rapid gush of water swept them away.
Toniann did not survive. Her body was found the following day.
“She was such a beautiful little girl, such a sweet soul”, she said.
In the midst of the tragedy she had to find the strength to console her other two children, Richard, Toniann’s twin brother and Giovann. She found that strength in her sister Phyllis Daley
who never left her.
The tragedy, she explained, along with the subsequent death of her then husband five years later, were two of the biggest hurdles she has had to overcome.
“It was a devastation and a turning point in my life” she said.
The journey to recovery was long and hard.
Mrs. Touzalin Butler’s life has been mostly consumed by work, but she always finds time for family and church. She is the enrolling member and leader of the Mothers’ Union organisation in her church. That role keeps her very busy with a number of activities and events related to women inside the church as well as in the Brown’s Town community.
She has served on the York Castle High School board and sits on the board at St. Hilda’s as well as St. Christopher’s School for the Deaf.
A lover of theatre arts, dance in particular, Mrs Touzalin Butler was involved in preparing students for dance festivals for many years. Interestingly, after many years, she very recently married her first dance instructor, Audley.
She has been a member of the Soroptimist Club of Northern Jamaica since 1987 where she has served in various capacities including being president.
She was also a marker of CXC English Examination Papers for many years in Jamaica and Trinidad.
‘I have just learnt to take things one day at a time, and I’m now able to recognize very quickly what is important and what is not. I quiet my spirit by remembering to ‘Be still and know who is God’, is how Mrs. Touzalin Butler explains her approach to life.
Mrs Touzalin Butler has been a source of inspiration to many. She is fun, loving, hardworking, family oriented, strong Christian believer and a true friend who thanks God every day for her two sons, her adopted daughter Angel and her four grand children.
She is a woman of worth.
