President, Cabinet And Dignitaries Sign Book of Condolence in Memory of Former First Lady Antoinette Tubman

Liberia Government (Monrovia)

8 June 2011

Monrovia, Liberia – President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her Cabinet signed, on June 8th, the Book of Condolence in memory of the late Mrs. Antoinette Louise Padmore Tubman, Former First Lady of the Republic of Liberia, who passed away, in her 98th year, on May 18, 2011. The late Mrs. Tubman was the wife of President William V.S. Tubman, 18th President of Liberia, who predeceased her in 1971.

The Book of Condolence was opened in the Foyer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and throughout the day dignitaries arrived to sign the Book in Mrs. Tubman’s memory and to pay their respect to members of the Tubman family. The former First Lady, after whom the Antoinette Tubman Stadium is named, was a philanthropist and humanitarian who headed several charitable organizations.

Members of the Tubman family at the signing included: Wilhelmina (Coocoo) Tubman Tucker, Gabriel Tucker, Jr., John H. Tubman, Elizabeth Tubman, Shad and Wokie Tubman, Arthur and Gerald Padmore, Georgette Padmore Cassell, Nehsee Tubman, Makaii Sirleaf, Yvette Chesson-Wureh, and many other relatives and sympathizers.

Signing the Book of Condolence, along with President Sirleaf, below a portrait of the late Mrs. Tubman, were the following Cabinet members: the Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Minister of State for Presidential Affairs; the Minister of Justice; the Minister of State without Portfolio; the Deputy Minister of Finance; the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications; the Deputy Minister of Gender & Development; the Minister of National Security; the Advisor to the President on Foreign Affairs; the Minister of National Defense; the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports; the Minister of Transport; the Deputy Minister of Planning & Economic Affairs; the Minister of Internal Affairs; the Deputy Minister of Agriculture; the Director General of the Cabinet; and the Chief of Protocol.

Others expected to sign the Book of Condolence on Wednesday were: the Vice President, President Pro-Tempore and Members of the Senate; the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives; the Chief Justice and Members of the Supreme Court Bench; the Former President, Interim President and Head of State; the Doyen and Members of the Diplomatic Corps/Special Representative and Heads of International Organizations; Heads of Public Corporations, Autonomous Agencies, Bureaux and Commissions; Members of the Consular Corps; and other officials of Government and sympathizers.

An Executive Mansion release, reporting on funeral arrangements, stated that at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 10th, the body of the late Mrs. Tubman would be removed, under appropriate military escort, from the Samuel A. Stryker Funeral Parlours, Sinkor, and taken to the First United Methodist Church, on Ashmun Street, for Wake-keeping.

On Saturday, June 11th, funeral rites over the remains of Mrs. Tubman will take place at 10 a.m. at the same Church, followed by interment at the Kaizer Memorial Lawn Cemetery, in Brewerville.

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