The passing of any upstanding citizen who chose to give of himself in service to the country is a loss that touches everyone, but the loss of a great teacher touches some more intimately.
On Sunday, Bro Michael Samuel passed away at 72, followed on Monday by Hazel Ward-Redman, 79, both of cancer.
Bro Michael was the former principal of Presentation College in San Fernando from 1975 to 2002, remembered as the man who put Pres on the local education map as a source of soundly-educated and well-rounded students. No less a former student than President Anthony Carmona declared himself "shattered" at the loss of a mentor and friend he considered to have been a guiding light in his life.
If Bro Michael was proud of his association with Presentation College, both his students and teachers remembered him as an inspiring presence, a man who led by example, engaging students and offering patient guidance. Errol Jaikaransingh, the school's current principal and a former student of Bro Michael, remembered him as "larger than life."
Hazel Ward-Redman would have greeted any suggestion that she was a teacher with a broad smile and twinkling eyes, but as Aunty Hazel on Teen Talent and 12 and Under, she was an accessible inspiration to countless young children keen to test their talents before the nation.
It is hard to imagine, in a world so thoroughly engaged with slick televised talent competitions, just how important the programming overseen by Hazel Ward-Redman was to the development of arts and entertainment in T&T.
There wasn't a lot of money to be had in winning either of the competitions. There were no splashy recording contracts on offer, no instant rock-star status to be had, but there was a commanding sense of community and shared purpose on that spare set, a pervasive sense that you could give it a try. Even at your worst, Aunty Hazel would still have approving applause and a smile of encouragement for you, a calming salve for even the most abysmal of performance failures.
Ms Ward-Redman, who began her career in television as the first weather anchor for TTT, extended her engaging on-air personality to several other shows, including the short-lived but popular Teen Dance Party, the women's magazine show Mainly for Women and a later edition that expanded that show's audience, called Not For Women Only.
But she was no pushover. Her stern, always smoothly collected presence on any of her shows demanded the best from her collaborators, her crew, her guests and her audience. Her unflinching command of good manners ensured that censure was clear and precise and there was always the reward of that approving smile to constantly prod everyone to do their best.
There have been other local talent shows that offered young performers an opportunity to show their skills, but there has never been another pair of shows like Teen Talent and 12 and Under, which nurtured creative possibility among the young and presented it, live, to television viewers like nothing before or since–as shown in the outpouring of respect, affection and admiration since the news broke of her passing.