FRIENDS and family are recalling the remarkable life of journalist, author, art historian, human rights advocate and educator Jocelyn (Motyer) Raymond-Read, who has died at her home in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the age of 77.

Born in Paget in 1930, Mrs. Raymond-Read went to Canada in 1946 to attend McMaster University, but returned to work as a print and broadcast journalist with ZBM and the Mid-Ocean News until 1952.

She returned to Toronto for postgraduate work in social work and child studies and was considered by many to be years ahead of her public when it came to childcare and human rights.

In 1964 she and her husband Richard Raymond moved to Nova Scotia where she taught in the education department of Mount St. Vincent University and started its early Childhood Education programme.

She also volunteered for groups such as the Head Start programme, the Halifax Dartmouth Welfare Council and the YWCA.

As a teacher and author, she was an early child care and human rights advocate who was instrumental in working to bring Nova Scotia's first human rights legislation in the late 1960s. And many of her ideas about child care were expressed in her weekly Toronto Globe and Mail column "Living with Children", which appeared from 1954 until 1964 while she was teaching nursery school at the University of Toronto's Institute of Child Study. Her weekly columns interpreted for the public what the scientists were doing in child studies at the University.

Mrs. Raymond-Read left behind a multitude of friends and family, including her husband Robert, daughter Michele, son Jacques, older sister Jacqueline and brother Arthur.

Her daughter this week recalled asking her mother in later life why all her toys seemed to have come from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

The reason: Mrs. Raymond-Read had been writing about the dangers of lead paint in children's toys in the 1950s.

"I also remember wearing a seat belt in the 1950s," her daughter added. "She had ordered this especially from the USA, had it fitted in our VW and wrote an article about this too, recommending that parents purchased seat belts."

Mrs. Raymond added that her mother's interest in human rights might have been partly because her brother Jacques was adopted and at that time babies in Nova Scotia could only be adopted into families of the same religion as the birth parents.

Friends recalled Mrs. Raymond-Read serving on numerous boards of directors in Halifax over the years, but said she would be most remembered for her mischievous wit, infectious laughter and a deep concern for others, which did not desert her in her final days.

Neighbour and friend Ruth Goldbloom described her as a "true academic without being stuffy" and said her concern for people around her was legendary.

"The glass in Jocelyn's life was always half full," she said.

Bermudian historian John Cox befriended Mrs. Raymond-Read while she was researching her book, Saturday's Children. The story of orphan children who were sent out to Bermuda in 1850 from various English workhouses.

"They were to be apprenticed as servants to local families, a prospect believed to improve their sorry lot. At the time, I was able to loan Jocelyn a number of family letters from the period, giving a keen insight into Victorian life in Bermuda," Mr. Cox said.

"Jocelyn was very grateful and we became instant friends. Her beautiful and poignant book, entitled Saturday's Children, came out to wide acclaim in 1994.

"Its descriptions of life in Bermuda in 1850 are deeply insightful, and indeed have been valuable sources of material for historians who have followed, including myself. Jocelyn would always downplay her role as an historian. That was her nature because her approach was subtle, yet sharply accurate."

He said she loved Bermuda history as much as anyone he has ever known and was always willing to share her knowledge, which was really significant.

"Latterly, Joceyln donated her book to the Bermuda Historical Society with full proceeds benefiting the Society. It is sold there exclusively," he added.

"For years I visited Jocelyn at her home, Boscobel, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We liked to sit on her terrace, overlooking the city and reminisce about her favourite place, Bermuda. She had a wonderful sense of humour.

"If I was long in finalising plans to visit her, I invariably received her typed letterhead fax with just one word scrawled across a large blank page ¿ 'WHEN?' I'd instantly get myself down to the travel agent and book a ticket!" he recalled.

"I was fortunate to visit Jocelyn just the week before she died. She was resting comfotably on a bed placed in her library, which had a lovely view of her garden. Her favourite cat lay next to her on the windowsill. She was weak, but managed to chuckle over the memories of teas together at my home, or lunches on her terrace in Nova Scotia."

Mr. Cox added: "Jocelyn loved beauty in the world. Her book Saturday's Children was a journey, as she described, from darkness into light. Her life reflected just that. There was light and beauty wherever she was and in whatever she wrote. So many of us will miss her. Thank God she touched our lives. We are the better for it."

Former Tourism Director Gary Phillips told the Mid-Ocean News that he considered Mrs. Raymond-Read a surrogate aunt: "I met her through my grandmother who had close association with the family for many, many years."

He said growing up he spent a lot of time around the Motyer family and recalled her wit and humour and her passionate devotion to family and friends.

"She was a remarkable woman," he said.

Mrs. Raymond-Read's most notable contribution to Bermuda came in 1998 when she helped secure an exhibition of 27 island watercolours by "rebel princess" HRH Princess Louise from the National Gallery of Canada to the Bermuda National Gallery for three months.

Director of the Bermuda National Gallery Laura Gorham said Mrs. Raymond-Read approached her with the concept of a Princess Louise exhibition in 1993.

Mrs. Gorham said it was Mrs. Raymond-Read's discovery of the Bermuda watercolours painted by Princess Louise in the archives of the National Gallery of Canada that brought this exhibition to life.

The youngest daughter of Queen Victoria and wife of Canada's Governor-General, Princess Louise's decision to spend the cold Canadian winter in Bermuda helped to establish the island's reputation as vacation resort. A talented amateur artist, Princess Louise painted dozens of watercolours of local scenes during her visits here.

"A dedicated researcher with an ability to write about her chosen subjects in a way which made them accessible to everyone, she wrote the catalogue essay on Bermuda as it was in 1883 and the dramatic effect Princess Louise's visit had on our tourism. The show not only gave Bermudians a chance to see the work done by our Royal visitor but enabled the National Gallery of Canada to restore the pictures," she said.

As a tribute to Mrs. Raymond-Read, the Bermuda National Gallery will have the catalogue and information from the Princess Louise exhibition available and on show next week.