This past November, the world lost a truly bright light with the death of the College of Saint Benedict’s great friend and alumna Telzena Coakley ’62. For education in her home of The Bahamas, Telzena was a beacon – and in true Bennie fashion, she let that light shine.
Telzena attended CSB for two years, from 1960-1962, to finish her bachelor’s degree. Prior to that, she spent a year at Mt. St. Clare College in Clinton, Iowa (1958-1959). She was already an experienced teacher when she arrived at CSB – she taught at Catholic Senior School in The Bahamas for six years (1952-1958) and was headmistress there before she went to college. She took her first Benedictine vows at the St. Martin de Porres Monastery in Nassau in 1953, but later chose to leave the order in 1970.
In 1973, The Bahamas achieved full independence and Telzena, with her appointment to the Ministry of Education, set out to revolutionize teacher training in the island nation. The result was Benedictine University College (or The Bahamas Campus of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, as it was also called).
Telzena administered the program from Nassau and worked long-distance with administrators from Saint Ben’s to coordinate curricular programming and certify transcripts.
Her efforts created a program that operated for 26 years and allowed generations of Bahamian women to earn college degrees and become educators. Eventually the program expanded to serve men and students in all majors. It forever solidified the relationship between the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University with The Bahamas.
Beyond Benedictine University College
In addition to her work with Saint Ben’s, Saint John’s and Benedictine University College, Telzena had the honor of working as the Bahamas Government Director of Special Projects from 1970-1981, where she worked in the areas of tourism, education, finance and foreign affairs, and served as co-secretary for the Royal Commission on Freeport.
In 2005, she was honored with the Bahamahost Commemorative Medal for her work in developing the Bahamahost program in her home country, which promotes professionalism, pride and education in hospitality fields to ensure a proper welcome to visitors. In 2013 The Bahamian government bestowed on her the Nation Builder’s Award, meant to “pay homage to the hardworking everyday persons in our communities.”
She was more than a passionate advocate for education, she was a fierce advocate for women in all areas. Every woman who came to her for help with a personal challenge found Telzena’s deep, abiding faith, her strong moral compass that generated unshakable courage, and always that twinkle in her eye.
She was awarded the CSB President’s Medal in both 1979 and 2010. She received the Lumen Vitae award in 1992. In 2013 she accepted the Centennial Circle of Sisters Award from Saint Ben’s on behalf of all Bahamian alumnae. And in 2017 she received the Sister Emmanuel Renner Award for service to the college.
2017 Sister Emmanuel Renner Award for service to the college
Telzena always treated the partnership between Saint Ben’s and The Bahamas as a gift. “I called it our independence gift from Saint Ben’s,” she once said. “They couldn’t give a better independence – to help the higher education of our people.”