Symmonds’ young daughter Waldemar (who later became Mrs. Vere Rice) soon joined her parents in distributing Bible tracts.

These early Bible Students had a burning desire to talk to others about what they had learned. The spirit of urgency and self-sacrifice moved them to distribute publications of the Watch Tower Society as they took the message to many villages on the island. Sister Rice relates: “Pappy [her father], who operated a business in the capital city, Bridgetown, would use his mule and carrier to transport the group of Bible Students sharing in the work to cover the country districts. We would go out mainly on weekends. The poor mule did not get much rest, and so it would stop quite often on the way home​—whether due to tiredness or just plain stubbornness, we couldn’t say. As a result, we would get back home very late on Sundays, sometimes much past midnight. Yet I had to be up the next morning to go to school.”

Undiminished Zeal

Another hard worker, Sister Waldemar Rice, has effectively presented the truth to people in every station of life over the past seven decades. She has the knack of using Barbadian, or “Bajan” dialect, to good effect. Her thorough acquaintance with local expressions adds color to her witnessing without detracting from its dignity, and her keen enthusiasm for the Kingdom hope, when expressed in the vernacular, commands a listening ear. When speaking to persons of humble background about deteriorating world conditions, she may say: “Dis worl’ in bare turmoil, dah is de troof, when um en trouble in one place, um is starvation in another or riots in yonder.”

She is bold and fearless in advocating the truth, and this example has encouraged many young folks over the years. Though her physical strength has waned, Sister Rice’s zeal for Jehovah’s service remains as vibrant as ever right into the 87th year of her life.

[Picture on page 153]

Lina “Mammy” Gaul, left, and Waldemar Rice, early Witnesses in Barbados