When Finance Minister Fayval Williams made historical past final Tuesday by opening the 2025-26 Finances Debate as Jamaica’s first feminine finance minister, she took a heartfelt journey down reminiscence lane. Reflecting on her youth within the quiet neighborhood of Tydixon, northwest St Catherine, Williams credited the agricultural village for shaping her journey. Her phrases sparked heat reminiscences amongst locals, who keep in mind her as a brilliant, soft-spoken younger lady deeply rooted within the values of neighborhood and resilience.
Located some seven miles from Lluidas Vale, Tydixon is a predominantly agriculture neighborhood, and a spot the place traditions endure and each nook holds a narrative of days passed by. In her youth, Williams, then often called Fayval Johnson, attended Tydixon All-Age, now Tydixon Main and Toddler College, and absorbed the values of the Tydixon Seventh-day Baptist Church, the place her father served as a deacon.
Residents like 69-year-old Charles Wilks, a lifelong resident of Tydixon, and certainly one of Williams’ former classmates, keep in mind her fondly.
“Our trainer was Mr Hinds… she actually was a brilliant scholar at school from these days, developing, so I’m joyful to see that she is the primary feminine finance minister in our nation. Mi actually glad fi see seh she come this far,” he informed THE STAR.
Recollections of Williams are interwoven with cherished neighborhood landmarks. Locals recall her dad and mom, the Johnsons, and the legacy of her grandparents’ bakery.
“She used to stroll from her home, the one in entrance of the put up workplace, to highschool day by day,” stated Charles Wilks. Pointing to the Baptist church, he added, “That is the church the place she used to guh and her mom promote potato pudding, toto and drops treats beneath di tree.”
At her former college, the place Williams’ photograph nonetheless graces the partitions as an emblem of educational excellence, trainer Tashaniea Williams recalled, “I used to be small again then, so I wasn’t a type of who can say we grew up collectively, it was largely my sisters who might attest to that. She wasn’t a troublemaker; she was a humble lady. I even keep in mind she was at my aunt’s funeral.”
Her aunt, Etlin Walker, with whom Williams had an in depth relationship, handed final September. These recollections reinforce her deep-rooted connection to Tydixon, although she left the neighborhood throughout her youth.
Former classmates Landel Sharpe and his brother Derrick Henry additionally recalled their schooldays. Henry recalled jokingly, “Mi at all times hassle her inna college. She did at all times respectful.”
Sharpe remembered that “she stayed indoors extra and went to church”, a recollection that’s consistent with Williams’ utterance in Parliament final Tuesday.
She informed Parliament that “there was completely no story that I and my brothers and sisters might concoct and inform our dad and mom that may trigger them to say, ‘OK, nuh trouble go a church right now.’ Even when we needed to go to church on a stretcher, we needed to go! Thanks, Tydixon Seventh-day Baptist Church for instilling classes that proceed to form my character and information my footsteps,” the minister stated.
Regardless of these cherished reminiscences and enduring traditions, the neighborhood quietly longs for Williams to return and assist transfer it ahead.
“She shoulda actually uplift the neighborhood. We welcome her again to Tydixon,” stated Wilks, capturing the collective need to see her reconnect together with her roots.
