By: La Shawna Griffith
In the quiet heart of St. John, history was etched into stone in honour of a woman whose life work has been rooted in fairness, dignity, and service. Justice Barbara Cooke-Alleyne, a daughter of the soil, was recently honoured as a “Pillar of St. John,” her name forever immortalised at the Gall Hill Community Centre.
It was a moment of profound emotion, not just for Justice Cooke-Alleyne, but for the entire community that watched one of their own rise to distinction and return to be celebrated at home. “I was teary-eyed, but I couldn’t cry,” she said, visibly moved. “I was in a meeting, so I had to stay strong. I didn’t expect accolades in my lifetime. I don’t work for that.”
And yet, accolades have come which were earned not through pursuit, but through a lifetime of integrity and dedication. Known across Barbados as a woman who administered justice and been fair, Justice Cooke-Alleyne’s journey was never about recognition. For her, it was about doing what was right and treating every person with the respect they deserve.
That deep-rooted sense of fairness and community spirit stems from her upbringing in the rural community of St. John. She is the daughter of the late Horatio Cooke, a man whose name also adorns the very ground where she stood. In 2018, the pavilion at the same location was named in his honour, marking him as a beloved community stalwart and symbol of service.
“My (parents) were a power couple (back in the day) in St. John,” she reflected. “(My father) always said, ‘A man is a man, even (if) he has one fan.’ You couldn’t disrespect anybody at all, no matter who they were.” Those values became her compass in the courtroom and beyond.
The Cooke legacy is one of service. As a young girl, Barbara would watch her father stop along the road to give children rides to school. “I do it now to my boys and they say, ‘Mommy, careful!’” she laughed. “But we were always brought up to make sure we serve people. If we have more, we share it.”
Indeed, Justice Cooke-Alleyne has always been about service and not self. Her years on the bench were marked by wisdom, impartiality, and an unwavering commitment to justice. She also acknowledges the women who paved the way for her: “We had our President [Dame Sandra Mason], she was there before. Women like herself and Mrs. King they made the path a lot easier for us.”
“greatness is not only found in courtrooms or headlines
as it is forged in the simple, daily decisions to serve others,
uplift the community, and live with integrity.”
As she stood at Gall Hill, a stone’s throw from the pavilion named after her father, the full circle of legacy was almost too much to bear. “It is very much an emotional moment,” she admitted. “He made me into what I am today… This is my birthplace. This is where I was christened, where I went to primary school, where I chose to get married, where I christened my son, and where I laid my parents to rest.”
Though the day was bittersweet without her parents’ presence, the moment served as a powerful reminder: greatness is not only found in courtrooms or headlines as it is forged in the simple, daily decisions to serve others, uplift the community, and live with integrity.
In her free time, Justice Cooke-Alleyne still returns to her favourite place: Bath Beach. “We spend a lot of time down there as children. When it’s not a picnic day or a busy day, we can go there and relax with my family.” There, amidst the crashing waves and laughter of kin, she finds peace.
Justice Barbara Cooke-Alleyne’s name may now be etched in stone, but her legacy lives in every life she touched with fairness, kindness, and the wisdom passed down from a father who taught her that respect is not earned by status, but by how we treat each other.
