Bertha Yvonne Conton,

GCOR The General Code of Operating Rules (GCOR) is a set of operating rules for railroads in the United States. The GCOR is used by Class I railroads west of Chicago, most of the Class II railroads, and many Short-line railroads. Some railroads in the ...

( Thompson; 31 October 1923 – 1 May 2022) was a

Sierra Leone Creole The Sierra Leone Creole people () are an ethnic group of Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone Creole people are lineal descendant, descendants of freed African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and Sierra Leone Liberated African, Liberated African slaves who ...

educator who was the principal, founder, and proprietress of Leone Preparatory School.

Biography

Conton was educated at St. Joseph's Primary School and subsequently at St. Joseph's Convent School in

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

, Sierra Leone. She completed her post-secondary school education in Liverpool, England. On her return to Freetown, Conton started her teaching career at St Joseph's Convent and the Freetown Secondary School for Girls. After a brief stay in Ghana where she taught at the International School of Accra, her family moved to Bo, Sierra Leone. There in 1961, Conton founded the Leone Preparatory School, also known as the "Bertha Conton School", when she started giving lessons to children on the veranda of her home in Bo. The school later transferred operations to Freetown, in 1963. Conton was married to

William Farquhar Conton William Farquhar Conton (5 September 1925 – 23 June 2003) was a Sierra Leone Creole educator, historian and acclaimed novelist. Background and early life William Farquhar Conton was born on 5 September 1925 in Bathurst, Gambia, to the union ...

, an educator, historian, and author. She died in Freetown on 1 May 2022, at the age of 98.

Awards and recognition

*In 2012, Conton was invested as a Grand Commander of the Order of Rokel, the highest and most prestigious decoration in Sierra Leone, for her contributions to education. *In the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, Lord

Paul Boateng Paul Yaw Boateng, Baron Boateng, (born 14 June 1951) is a British Labour Party politician, a former civil rights lawyer and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent South from 1987 to 2005, becoming the UK's first Black Cabinet Minister in M ...

paid tribute to Conton, who taught him how to read.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conton, Bertha 1923 births 2022 deaths Conton family (Sierra Leone) People from Freetown Sierra Leone Creole people Sierra Leonean educators Sierra Leonean expatriates in Guinea Sierra Leonean expatriates in the United Kingdom Sierra Leonean Roman Catholics