Fun was the order of the event when retired banker Gwynneth Dorothea Butterfield, JP, celebrated her 75th birthday.

To ensure things got off on the right track and stayed there she had as the emcee for her party at St. James Church Hall none other than Hamilton Town Crier Ed Christopher, the sparkplug of the popular Prestige band.

He was backed up by magician Mr. Slick; and talented 12-year-old Welsh-born Jaret Simmons and his Welsh mother Tracey. Jaret, a student at Warwick Academy, is a saxophonist, singer and dancer, who has broken his mother into being his torrid salsa-dancing partner.

It is not surprising that the Simmonses have a Bermudian name. She said her grandfather Cornelius Simmons was a native Bermudian who went to the Turks and Caicos Islands to work in the salt pits in the 1800s. He ended up in Wales where he settled and raised a family.

Fun aside, Dorothea was absolutely serious when she determined that monetary gifts received at her party would be donated towards the organ fund for Anglican St. Michael's Chapel, where she's a regular worshipper.

For all practical purposes, Dorothea is a self-made woman. She had just entered her teens when her mother passed away, and though raised by an aunt who was a school principal, she became the surrogate mother of her brother, Walton G. Brown (deceased), and younger sister, Lovette, wife of architect and former MP Walter Brangman.

A widow and mother of a son, Michael, Mrs. Butterfield, since retiring after 27 years in the banking field, has devoted her considerable energies and talents to a variety of church and civic projects. Among other things she is president of the Seniors Learning Centre at the Bermuda College.

After being a trailblazer in the field of banking that was once closed to black women in Bermuda, Mrs. Dorothy Butterfield decided to take time out from her varied civic and cultural activities and have some fun on her 75th birthday. Above left, she's being dwarfed by her emcee, Hamilton Town Crier Ed Christopher, to the delight of the Ven. Arnold Hollis and his wife. Above right, guests enjoy the magic and other entertainment.