BERMUDIANS have been mourning the recent death of one of the island's educators whose nursery school spawned thousands of students, many of whom went on to become doctors, lawyers, politicians and leaders on the Island.

Daisy Powell, who founded Powell's Nursery in 1954, initially in the tiny kitchen of her small Friswell's Hill home with just four or five children, eventually had 150 children between the ages of two and seven - and a long waiting list.

Among her many former pupils are Health Minister Nelson Bascome, Crown Counsel Juan Wolffe, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary and former Nartional Drug Commission head Dr. Derrick Binns, headmistress of Elliott School Cathy Bassett - and a long list of today's teachers who recevied their early schooling from her.

"I was at her school from the age of two to five, and I do remember her," recalled Mr. Wolffe this week. "She was very strict and, besides teaching us our ABCs and 1,2,3s, she taught us how to conduct ourselves, and how to dress.

"I remember that I learned to read at a very early age. It was a very disciplined place - even at that early age, you know you were there to learn, rather than play. It wasn't at all oppressive, we all loved going there, but you had to mind your Ps and Qs.

"She was very instrumental in my formative years in getting me on the right track. When I went to primary school, I was well ahead of the other kids who went to other nurseries, so my first couple of years at primary school were a breeze."

She had an amazing memory, said Mr. Wolffe, who works in the Department of Public Prosecutions. "Even when I used to see her in later years, she remembered me, and everyone else by name."

Elliott School headmistress Cathy Bassett said that when she recently compiled a survey of her teaching staff, half of them had been pupils of Mrs. Powell, including her deputy Valerie Williams.

"She was a teacher of the 'old school' and was certainly an advocate of character development," said Mrs. Bassett. "Every child who graduated from her nursery school knew how to behave. She was adamant that if children did not learn self-discipline at an early age, they would not be disciplined as adolescents and adults.

"At Elliott, we decided to take on her ideas on character development and each week we have a different theme, such as perseverance, trust, love, patience, respect, orderliness and so on. We have the children recite relevant verses at assembly each week. We've had a very positive response and it was inspired by Mrs. Powell. Now, other schools are taking this on board."

Mrs. Powell, who was born in St. Kitts in 1924, was the mother of well-known soprano Marcelle Clamens. It is more than likely that her remarkable talent was inherited, at least in part, from her mother, since Mrs. Powell was an active member of the church choir of Grace Methodist Church and, in her later years, as a member of Christ Church in Devonshire, she could still be heard singing all her favourite old hymns.

Mrs. Powell came from a poor family in St. Kitts but, in spite of contracting polio, she managed to pass 13 GCEs at the age of only 14. She won a scholarship to study teaching for one year in Antigua, after which she taught at the local Catholic parochial school, besides giving private tuition to the children of St. Kitts' community leaders.

After running her own private school for two years, she went off to Toronto to attend Teachers' College.

When she came to Bermuda in 1949, she taught at the Purvis School under headmistress Cora Scott-Gayle and it was during that time that she married Howard (Hope) Powell. Marcelle was their only child.

Among those who encouraged her nursery endeavour were the late Dame Marjorie Bean, the late Dr. Yvonne Blackett, former Cultural Affairs Officer Ruth Thomas, and Ms Scott-Gayle, who remembers Mrs. Powell as an "unselfish woman of quiet dignity, strength and inspiration to all of us".

Another former student is Laquitta Bean, who spent 28 years working at the Bermuda Telephone Company and says it was Mrs. Powell who inspired her to become a nursery school teacher: "Her school gave me a vision of my childhood dream to become a teacher," she said.

"I went back to school in 1997 and qualified and I am still doing courses with Mount St. Vincent University on-line. In September, I finally became a pre-schooler teacher at Playmates High in West Pembroke. Mrs. Powell really was an inspiration to me."

Many will remember her TV concerts, featuring her pupils as they performed for "Aunty Nell" and at live concerts where there was standing room only for audiences who enjoyed listening to very young children recite long memory verses, as well as sing and dance.