![Parliamentarians bear the casket into the St. Andrews Kirk [iNews' Photo]](https://i0.wp.com/www.inewsguyana.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/IMG_7336.jpg)
[www.inewsguyana.com] – Scores of Guyanese, among which stood the smartest legal and political minds today (Friday, March 28) flanked the St. Andrews Kirk Cathedral to bid farewell to former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly the late Deborah Jan Backer.
Backer after being removed from the funeral home was first taken to her residence where she died on March 21; she was then made to lay in the compound of the Parliament building before being taken to the Cathedral for a church service.
There, teary tributes flowed from members of the Lions Club of Georgetown, the Guyana Association of Women Lawyers and the Bar Association, all of which Backer was a member.
Also paying homage was Speaker Raphael Trotman, representatives of the government and Opposition Leader David Granger. President Donald Ramotar had viewed the body while it lay in the Parliament building compound.
They all remembered a woman of much vibrancy and humor; she was remember too as a great icon for the People’s National Congress (PNC), a freedom fighter, a champion for women rights and a soldier for justice.
Backer obtained her Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago after receiving a Bachelors of Law at the University of the West Indies in 1981.
She served as a member of several important organizations. Through her involvement with the PNC she entered the National Assembly in 1997 and served until she tendered her resignation in February 2014; she was the Deputy Speaker, the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Sectorial Committees and was also the main opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Public safety and National Security.
Baker died of cancer after battling with the sickness since last year. She leaves to mourn a husband and two children.
