Bermuda has “a new queen”.

Lovette Brangman, businesswoman and community figure, has been awarded a special honour by the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Given the Sarah Bass Allen Award for outstanding church and community service, Mrs Brangman was just one of five women worldwide to be commended.

Mrs Brangman said her need to serve, particularly the cause of families and children, was “just a part of who I am”.

“Part of it stems from the reality that, as a child, because of the powers that be, my father was prevented from carrying on with his business,” she told The Royal Gazette.

Walton St George Brown’s ambitious series of grocery stores brought him into competition with an Establishment that moved swiftly to put him out of business, she recalled.

“There was a time when we didn’t know if we were going to eat; they would not allow people to employ him,” she said — while her mother, Pearl, was dismissed from her teaching job.

“I considered it a privilege and honour to be chosen by a committee within the AME to receive this award.”

Mrs Brangman is the wife of the late Walter Brangman, Progressive Labour Party MP and one of the founding members of the National Liberal Party. She is the mother of former education minister Nalton Brangman, Rev Que’monde Brangman, and Remonde Brangman.

She served as assistant secretary general of the PLP from 1975 to 1977, and ran twice as a candidate in General Elections.

Gilbert Hayward of the Richard Allen AME Church commended her as a stalwart member of Brighton Temple AME since its inception.

“She has been a member and advisor on boards and commissions both locally and internationally in the AME Church connection, with her main focus in the area of missions,” Rev Hayward said. Mrs Brangman has also served on the Berkeley Education Society and the board of governors for the Matilda Smith Williams seniors residence.

She is the founder and administrator of two nursery schools.

She told this newspaper that she had tried to bring charity into rentals, assisting people of lesser means by “trying to meet them where they can start”.

“That’s now always the best thing for me, but if it’s going to help someone else, why not give them a chance?”

Mrs Brangman’s faith brought her into work with the first episcopal district of the church, which encompasses a swathe of churches up the Eastern Seaboard of the United States — bringing her into “a number of church entities at the international level”, as well as the humanitarian group World Vision.

“It has been a challenge to be involved, because there are people all over this world that need help of some kind,” she said.

“It is a comfort to me when I can do something to help just one person.”

The awards ceremony was held on April 9 at a gala event in Philadelphia.