Sybil Ione McLaughlin, nee Bush , JP (24 August 1928 – 10 May 2022) was a Caymanian politician who became the First Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Cayman Islands. She was declared a National Hero in 1996.

McLaughlin was born in Mobile, Alabama in 1928.

Sybil I. McLaughlin

In 1945 she started working for the Government of the Cayman Islands, and when they received a constitution, she was made the clerk. During her career, her expertise was used in other parliaments. She worked at the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Stormont House, and in the government offices of Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago.

Sybil I. McLaughlin

In February 1991, she was appointed as the First Speaker to the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly.

Sybil I. McLaughlin

In 1996, she retired from her post and was named a National Hero of the Cayman Islands. This is the Cayman Islands' highest honor and was awarded because of her contributions to parliament and the community of the Cayman Islands. She was also a of the founding members of the Business and Professional Women’s Club, the Rotary Sunrise Club, and the Cayman Islands Tennis Club.

On 10 May, 2022, she died at her sons home in South Sound. Sybil McLaughlin lay in state at the House of Parliament in the Cayman Islands on the 19th of May. Her funeral was attended the following day.

References

1928 births

2022 deaths

Politicians from Mobile, Alabama

Caymanian women in politics

American emigrants to the Cayman Islands

Members of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands

20th-century British women politicians

Members of the Order of the British Empire

National Heroes of the Cayman Islands

First women legislative speakers