Plan­ning Min­is­ter Pen­ne­lope Beck­les yes­ter­day sor­row­ful­ly re­mem­bered her “Ari­ma sis­ter,” MP Lisa Mor­ris-Ju­lian, as be­ing a bright light that in­spired every­one she en­coun­tered.

Beck­les and PNM Youth De­vel­op­ment Min­is­ter Fos­ter Cum­mings were among those at the scene sur­round­ing Hous­ing Min­is­ter Camille Robin­son-Reg­is who had cried out in grief at Mor­ris-Ju­lian’s death.

Beck­les said she joined the na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ty “in mourn­ing the trag­ic and un­time­ly loss of my dear col­league, Min­is­ter Lisa Mor­ris-Ju­lian, and her beloved chil­dren. Words can­not ex­press the depth of sad­ness and dev­as­ta­tion that I feel at this mo­ment. This loss is not on­ly a pro­found tragedy for the Mor­ris fam­i­ly but al­so for the peo­ple of D’Abadie/O’Meara, the con­stituen­cy she served so pas­sion­ate­ly, the peo­ple of Ari­ma, and in­deed the en­tire na­tion.”

Beck­les said she first met Mor­ris-Ju­lian many years ago, “when she was a young teacher, full of en­thu­si­asm and an un­wa­ver­ing pas­sion for serv­ing oth­ers.”

“Even then, she ra­di­at­ed a bright light that in­spired every­one she en­coun­tered. Her jour­ney from the class­room to the cor­ri­dors of pub­lic ser­vice was a nat­ur­al evo­lu­tion of her deep com­mit­ment to up­lift­ing oth­ers.

“She was more than a col­league. She was a shin­ing light of hope, strength, and ser­vice. She em­bod­ied the qual­i­ties of a true pa­tri­ot and a re­mark­able daugh­ter of T&T. Her life was one of tire­less ded­i­ca­tion to her com­mu­ni­ty, her fam­i­ly, and her beloved coun­try.”

Beck­les said as an Ari­ma coun­cil­lor Mor­ris-Ju­lian’s lead­er­ship was de­fined by her com­pas­sion and her dri­ve to bring mean­ing­ful change to her com­mu­ni­ty.

“Her rise to deputy may­or and then may­or of Ari­ma was a tes­ta­ment to her ex­cep­tion­al lead­er­ship and the trust that peo­ple placed in her. Her con­tri­bu­tions to Ari­ma re­main a cor­ner­stone of her lega­cy, and her im­pact on the bor­ough will nev­er be for­got­ten.”

Beck­les said Mor­ris-Ju­lian’s ser­vice ex­pand­ed na­tion­al­ly when she be­came D’Abadie/O’Meara MP, rep­re­sent­ing her con­stituents with in­tegri­ty and ded­i­ca­tion.

“In her role as Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion, Lisa’s ma­ter­nal in­stincts shone bright­ly as she be­came a moth­er to the na­tion’s chil­dren, tire­less­ly ad­vo­cat­ing for their growth and suc­cess. She worked to en­sure every child in T&T had ac­cess to the op­por­tu­ni­ties they de­served, and her ef­forts will con­tin­ue to in­spire fu­ture gen­er­a­tions.”

Beck­les said Mor­ris-Ju­lian was a de­vot­ed wife and moth­er who deeply loved her fam­i­ly.

“Her kind­ness, hu­mil­i­ty, and sense of pur­pose touched every­one who had the priv­i­lege of know­ing her. She was al­so a trail­blaz­er for women in lead­er­ship, serv­ing as vice chair of the PNM Na­tion­al Women’s League and in­spir­ing count­less women to lead with con­fi­dence and courage.” Ex­tend­ing con­do­lences to Mor­ris- Ju­lian’s fam­i­ly, con­stituents and col­leagues, Beck­les said, “I share your grief ... Let us ho­n­our her mem­o­ry by con­tin­u­ing the work she so pas­sion­ate­ly start­ed—up­lift­ing our com­mu­ni­ties, nur­tur­ing our chil­dren, and build­ing a brighter fu­ture for all.”