As contradictory as it may seem, the anarchists are on the verge of uniting.
Representatives of arts and other community organizations on St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix agreed on several key matters Saturday at a symposium held to determine whether they wanted to come together again later to develop plans to work collectively on addressing common concerns.
One was that the arts cannot at present look to the territorial government for financial support.
Another was that, in approaching private-sector funding sources, the emphasis should be on the "big bucks" available from corporations and foundations as opposed to small donations from local businesses that face a daily barrage of not-for-profit beggars. The recent gift of $100,000 to the St. Thomas Swimming Association from Royal Caribbean International and Celebrity Cruises was noted.
Another was the need to form partnerships with other public and private entities for the benefit of all.
Yet another was frustration over the painstaking processes of applying for federal funds through local granting organizations.
And the last was a resounding "yes" to having a more extensive mini-arts summit in the fall to work out plans for a united arts agency — and for the St. Thomas-St. John Arts Council, which hosted Saturday's symposium, to seek a major grant from the V.I. Council on the Arts to bring the new entity into being.
Mina Orenstein, vice president of the St. Thomas-St. John Arts Council, struck a common chord in articulating a fundamental philosophical conflict between artists or arts groups and public funding agencies.
"Artists are by definition anarchists," she said. "To be creative means going outside the lines. But bureaucrats are by definition people who want to stay inside the lines, to go strictly by the rules." Thus, she said, funding agencies appear to be more concerned with how you fill out their forms than with what your agency does or aspires to do.
There are alternatives.
"The top 25 U.S. foundations have assets of about $1 billion," Roger Dewey, executive director of the St. Croix Foundation for Community Development, said. "They have to give away 5 percent of their net assets value — that's $5 billion — each year to stay clean with the feds."
He noted that his foundation, which recently purchased and plans to rehabilitate the derelict buildings of Times Square in Christiansted, has received more than half a million dollars in Ford Foundation grants over the last six years. That, in turn, he said, "has given us a track record of credibility in the eyes of other foundations."
Monty Thompson, founder and artistic director of Caribbean Dance Company and Caribbean Dance School, noted that United Way of St. Thomas-St. John rejected a bid by the school's St. Thomas branch for funding on the grounds that the school's headquarters is on St. Croix.
Especially in the area of cultural arts, another dynamic often determines the outcome of proposals, Dewey said: "Cultural preservation is more political than politics."
He added that for grant-writing purposes, "a dance school may not always be a dance school. Sometimes it may be a human services agency to build self-esteem among girls and prevent teen pregnancy." It was noted that the School of Visual Arts and Careers has for some years received federal Law Enforcement Planning Commission funding to prevent drug abuse among young people.
"We who represent the arts have got to become a political force to be reckoned with, just as the taxi drivers are," Clarence Cuthbertson, artistic director of St. John's Carabana Theatre, said.
In a discussion of venues, it was noted that the government was recently given the old V.I. Hotel property, which lies in ruins but could be restored for use as an arts school and exhibition/peformance facility — and perhaps a hospitality training school with a restaurant and guest rooms as well.
It was also noted that the government could take over the Ramada Yacht Haven property by eminent domain if funding were available, and that Tillett Gardens is up for sale.
"Someone needs to inventory the property the government owns," Dewey said. "The government itself doesn't know. . . Now is an excellent time to be approaching the government to talk about taking property off their hands."
He also noted that the city of St. Louis imposed a one-half percent sales tax that goes to support the arts. One way to make the idea of a head tax on ship passengers palatable to the cruise lines, he suggested, might be to earmark a part of the money to go directly to support the arts in the territory.
St. John artist Janet Cook-Rutnik, addressing the idea of partnering with the tourism sector, said, "The art lover is the world's most desirable client." Art is used to sell everything from vodka to Mercedez Benz to financial investment funds, she noted. "Why should it not be used to sell the Virgin Islands as a tourism destination?"
New ways of looking at old problems became the day's theme. Near the end of the symposium it was Cook-Rutnik who shared this quote: "The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
The idea isn't exactly new, though. The words are those of Albert Einstein.

Sloppy or nonexistent documentation, lack of qualified staff, ineffective use of grants, loss of files, and breaches of the terms of granting requirements are only some of the problems plaguing the Public Works Department's Office of Transportation, a recently released Interior Department audit has charged.
The audit was conducted to determine whether the terms of Federal Transit Administration grants had been met. The V.I. Government didn't get very good grades.
The report found $2.8 million in unused grant money with some grants going back as much as 10 years.
"Consequently improvements to the public transportation system were not made, and buses for transportation services for the elderly and the disabled were not purchased," the report said.
PWD also lost about $60,000 from FTA because it didn't properly prepare requests for electronic transfer of the funds.
The audit also said federal funds were held for as long as 49 days after receipt of electronic transfers before payments to vendors were made. On the other hand, the Finance Department did not request fund transfers until as many as 312 days after payments had been made to vendors – a violation of the Cash Management Act.
There were few financial status reports filed and grants were not closed out in a timely manner or at all — a requirement of the granting process.
Over and over again the local government responded to criticism by saying it lacked adequate and appropriate personnel to meet grant requirements — including a financial analyst.
That need was identified as far back as 1987 during a previous investigation by Interior's inspector general's office, but PWD's office of transportation still doesn't have one. In fact, the current report reveals, there isn't even a budgeted position for an analyst — at least 12 years after the need was identified.
Other vacant positions are senior transit planner, planning assistant, marketing specialist and secretary.
In response to the disclosure that files could not be found and pertinent documents were unavailable, PWD responded that either the files had been misplaced or had been lost in Hurricane Marilyn.
But, Interior's inspector general pointed out, the primary scope of the audit was from 1997 and 1998, two to three years after Marilyn.
Another problem cited was a sluggish procedure for establishing a budget for a project. The report determined it could take from one to five years for Public Works to forward the required documents to the Office of Management and Budget so that OMB could establish an approved project budget, which is necessary in order to charge costs against a grant
In one case a federal grant was awarded in 1992, but the budget was not established until 1998 — six years later.
The audit also disclosed that during the years 1991 to 1995 DPW received five grant awards totaling about $661,000 from the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities Program to buy 15 buses and some office equipment for nonprofit organizations. In the end, only 13 buses were purchased. By the time they were purchased, their prices had increased. So DPW asked some of the nonprofit organizations to contribute to the costs of the buses. Four of the 13 organizations did contribute, to the tune of about $16,521.
However, the it was inappropriate for the money to be requested from the nonprofits in the first place. The report recommended the money be returned to the agencies.
Also, vendors were asked to establish special specifications for the buses to conform to the Virgin Islands' left-hand side driving.
This, according to the audit, should have been the responsibility of the Department of Property and Procurement — which in turn said personnel qualified to establish such specifications were not available in the department.
Of the 13 recommendations made in the audit the Interior's inspector general considers two resolved and implemented, five resolved but not implemented, and four unresolved. The IG also requested target dates for the other two recommendations.

St. Croix will be a bigger cruise ship destination this coming season than ever before, even though it remains dwarfed by St. Thomas, according to Edward E. Thomas, chief executive officer of The West Indian Company Ltd., who brought the news back from a recent series of meetings with cruise line officials in Florida.
Cruise ships will make 114 calls at the Big Island between Nov. 1, 1999, and April 30, 2000, Thomas said.
The Crucian season will kick off with a visit by the Carnival Triumph, on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The Veendam will make its inaugural call on Jan. 12.
Promoting the territorial waters off St. Croix's East End as the easternmost part of the United States, a number of cruise ships will be in the area to celebrate the end of the old millennium and the start of the new.
Ten ships will call at St. Croix between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1. Four of them will be there on New Year's Eve, with the Norway scheduled to visit on New Year's Day.
Meantime, the busy ports of St. Thomas will be no less so in the coming season.
The Norway returns this Wednesday to resume weekly Eastern Caribbean cruises. The Nieuw Amsterdam will arrive on Oct. 14. A total of 786 calls at St. Thomas (at the WICO and Crown Bay docks and in the harbor) are booked between Oct. 14 and next May 17.
According to WICO public relations officer Calvin Wheatley, the best news for St. Thomas is that the ship arrivals have been rearranged so that the island doesn't have a lot of them some days and as few as one on other days. "Wednesday will still be the heaviest day," he said, "because of the ships that sail from Florida. But the spreading of cruise ship arrivals is expected to reduce congestion on the island."
Next summer's schedules aren't finalized. But Thomas says he is confident "there will be more capacity. . . because the Norway and the Century will be here all summer, and the new Zaandam will call here during the entire summer."
Most of the vessels calling in the islands these days are "mega cruise ships." Yet to come are the "super mega" liners now under construction in European yards. To prepare to accommodate the first of those behemoths in 2001, WICO has plans to expand its dock facilities next summer by 678 feet — after having added 954 feet just three years ago to berth three "megas" at once.
Thomas said he is "keenly aware of the fact that the cruise tourism sector will continue to carry the economy of the Virgin Islands for the foreseeable future." He said WICO remains committed to "the efficient and effective management of the product and the timely dissemination of information" about scheduling.

St. Croix will be a bigger cruise ship destination this coming season than ever before, even though it remains dwarfed by St. Thomas, according to Edward E. Thomas, chief executive officer of the West Indian Co. Ltd., who brought the news back from a recent series of meetings with cruise line officials in Florida.
Cruise ships will make 114 calls at the Big Island between Nov. 1, 1999, and April 30, 2000, Thomas said.
The Crucian season will kick off with a visit by the Carnival Triumph on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The Veendam will make its inaugural call on Jan. 12.
Promoting the territorial waters off St. Croix's East End as the easternmost part of the United States, a number of cruise ships will be in the area to celebrate the end of the old millennium and the start of the new.
Ten ships will call at St. Croix between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1. Four of them will be there on New Year's Eve, with the Norway scheduled to visit on New Year's Day.
Meantime, the busy ports of St. Thomas will be no less so in the coming season.
The Norway returns this Wednesday to resume weekly Eastern Caribbean cruises. The Nieuw Amsterdam will arrive Oct. 14. A total of 786 calls at St. Thomas (at the WICO and Crown Bay docks and in the harbor) are booked between Oct. 14 and next May 17.
According to WICO public relations officer Calvin Wheatley, the best news for St. Thomas is that the ship arrivals have been rearranged so that the island doesn't have a lot of them some days and as few as one on other days. "Wednesday will still be the heaviest day," he said, "because of the ships that sail from Florida. But the spreading of cruise ship arrivals is expected to reduce congestion on the island."
Next summer's schedules aren't finalized. But Thomas says he is confident "there will be more capacity. . . because the Norway and the Century will be here all summer, and the new Zaandam will call here during the entire summer."
Most of the vessels calling in the islands these days are "mega cruise ships." Yet to come are the "super mega" liners now under construction in European yards. To prepare to accommodate the first of those behemoths in 2001, WICO has plans to expand its dock facilities next summer by 678 feet — after having added 954 feet just three years ago to berth three "megas" at once.
Thomas said he is "keenly aware of the fact that the cruise tourism sector will continue to carry the economy of the Virgin Islands for the foreseeable future." He said WICO remains committed to "the efficient and effective management of the product and the timely dissemination of information" about scheduling.

Sloppy or nonexistent documentation, lack of qualified staff, ineffective use of grants, loss of files and breaches of the terms of granting requirements are only some of the problems plaguing the Public Works Department's Office of Transportation, a recently released Interior Department audit has charged.
The audit was conducted to determine whether the terms of Federal Transit Administration grants had been met. The V.I. government didn't get very good grades.
The report found $2.8 million in unused grant money with some grants going back as much as 10 years.
"Consequently improvements to the public transportation system were not made, and buses for transportation services for the elderly and the disabled were not purchased," the report said.
PWD also lost about $60,000 from FTA because it didn't properly prepare requests for electronic transfer of the funds.
The audit also said federal funds were held for as long as 49 days after receipt of electronic transfers before payments to vendors were made. On the other hand, the Finance Department did not request fund transfers until as many as 312 days after payments had been made to vendors – a violation of the Cash Management Act.
Few financial status reports were filed and grants were not closed out in a timely manner or at all — a requirement of the granting process.
Over and over again the local government responded to criticism by saying it lacked adequate and appropriate personnel to meet grant requirements — including a financial analyst.
That need was identified as far back as 1987 during a previous investigation by Interior's inspector general's office, but PWD's office of transportation still doesn't have one. In fact, the current report reveals, there isn't even a budgeted position for an analyst — at least 12 years after the need was identified.
Other vacant positions are senior transit planner, planning assistant, marketing specialist and secretary.
In response to the disclosure that files could not be found and pertinent documents were unavailable, PWD responded that either the files had been misplaced or had been lost in Hurricane Marilyn.
But Interior's inspector general pointed out that the primary scope of the audit was from 1997 and 1998, two to three years after Marilyn.
Another problem cited was a sluggish procedure for establishing a budget for a project. The report determined it could take from one to five years for Public Works to forward the required documents to the Office of Management and Budget so that OMB could establish an approved project budget, which is necessary in order to charge costs against a grant
In one case a federal grant was awarded in 1992, but the budget was not established until 1998 — six years later.
The audit also disclosed that during the years 1991 to 1995, DPW received five grant awards totaling about $661,000 from the Elderly and Persons with Disabilities Program to buy 15 buses and some office equipment for nonprofit organizations. In the end, only 13 buses were purchased. By the time they were purchased, their prices had increased. So DPW asked some of the nonprofit organizations to contribute to the costs of the buses. Four of the 13 organizations did contribute, to the tune of about $16,521.
However, the audit said it was inappropriate for the money to be requested from the nonprofits in the first place. The report recommended the money be returned to the agencies.
Also, vendors were asked to establish special specifications for the buses to conform to the Virgin Islands' left-hand side driving.
This, according to the audit, should have been the responsibility of the Department of Property and Procurement — which in turn said personnel qualified to establish such specifications were not available in the department.
Of the 13 recommendations made in the audit, the Interior's inspector general considers two resolved and implemented, five resolved but not implemented, and four unresolved. The IG also requested target dates for the other two recommendations.

Due to recent findings indicating the presence of cancer causing agents in the drinking water at two elementary schools, students and parents of Joseph Sibilly Elementary School are directed to bring drinking water to school for now.
It was uncovered by St. Thomas Source Friday that the Department of Education had been issued Notices of Violation in connection with the drinking water at Sibilly School and James Monroe Elementary School due to the volatile organic chemicals found in the water.
The mandate by the Department of Planning and Natural Resources called for the cisterns at Sibilly and Monroe Schools to be drained, cleaned and measures put in place to assure the potability of water at the schools.
Monroe has emptied its cistern, according to Dean Plaskett, commissioner of DPNR, but has not been refilled or tested.
Due to the heavy rains Monday Sibilly's cistern could not be emptied, according to a release from Education.
Students will get lunch from a satellite location because the water at the school cannot be used for cooking either.
June Archibald, spokesperson for the Education Department said Monday that the department will provide some water at the school, but she couldn't say how much.
In an Aug. 10 letter to Education Commissioner Ruby Simmonds, the department was directed by DPNR to cut back trees and brush affecting the catchment areas at the schools, clean and screen the gutters, pressure-wash the roofs and empty and clean the cisterns before Aug. 23. Carol Aubin, environmental specialist with the Planning and Natural Resource Department's environmental protection division, explained to St. Thomas Source Friday that unlike bacteria, which can be killed or controlled with chlorine, volatile organic chemicals are actually created by a reaction between certain types of plants and algae when mixed with chlorine.

Virtually every day I get a question or statement from a patient about the use of herbal medicine.
Some would say, "I stopped my blood pressure medicine, and I am taking St. John's Wort." Or, "You told me to take this estrogen pill but my friend told me to take Koash, a natural estrogen." Or, "Doc, here is a list of the health food supplements I take." Or, "I am presently taking Creatine to build my muscles. Everyone is doing it."
After spending many years studying modern medicine, I find myself being quizzed more about herbal medicine. Why? People are accessing information with greater ease.
More books, magazines, web sites, audiotapes, videos, and Oprah interviews speak to herbal medicine. The information and advertisement for herbal medicine is more oriented to the consumer, while the information for medicines doctors prescribe were more oriented to the physician.
Many people think because it is an herb, by definition, it is completely safe.
How should I respond to patient inquiries of this nature? I could take the easy way out and disclaim all non-allopathic therapies, telling these patients to toss away their plants and tablets. But I know that I would not be meeting my responsibility to counsel and advise. The public is reaching out.
I also know that the interplay of plants and human health has been documented for thousands of years. Herbs have been integral to all medicine. Four thousand years ago, the Chinese systematized many of the herbs. More recently herbal medicines have been consumed in many forms.
Some are harvested fresh, eaten whole or mixed in food. Others are dried, sold in bulk and then remixed. Others are freeze-dried into capsules.
I remind my patients that the drugs and medicines I prescribe also started from plants. I remind my patients that the herbs are just as much a drug or medicine. I remind my patients that the reason they work is that they produce a chemical reaction in the body to change whatever is ailing the patient. They are drugs by definition. Then, what are the differences?
These are a few. Because of quality control varying from manufacturer to manufacturer, there is uncertainty about the amount of active ingredients in some herbal preparations. The rigor of testing for the medicines or drugs physicians prescribe allows us to be able to understand the safety and the side effects of the medicine.
For herbal medicines, safety should be at least as important as efficacy. But the gold standard in safety and efficiency—the double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials—has rarely been applied to herbal medicines.
I will attempt to present just a few of the more commonly used herbal medicines and the information known about them that I could find.
ALOE VERA ( A. vulgari and A. barbadensis): Aloe is native to eastern and southern Africa. It is found throughout the Caribbean. Gel from the inner central zone of the leaves and latex from the pericyclic cells are used for medicinal purposes.
The capsule is 50-200 mg by mouth once a day for 10 days. The gel is applied 3-5 times a day for wound healing, skin irritation, burns, sunburn and psoriasis.
One study found that the wound healing was related to the aloe's ability to prevent dermal ischemia by reversing the effects of thromboxane synthase. Aloe's use is contraindicated in children less than 12 years of age and in older persons with suspected intestinal obstruction, inflammatory bowel disease or pregnancy.
Long-term use may result in diarrhea, especially a potassium deficiency that may be increased by the simultaneous use of thiazide diuretics, steroids or licorice root.
Caution is indicated when used in conjunction with cardiac glycosides.
GARLIC(Allium sativum): Garlic was originally from central Asia and is a
member of the lily family. Its use is documented in Sanskrit letters dating
5000 years ago and in Egyptian medical papyrus of 1550 BC.
Louis Pasteur noted garlic's antibiotic activity in 1858.
Garlic is used to lower cholesterol, protects against arterial occlusive disease, and has antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiplatelet, and antihypertensive effects. Several double-blind, placebo-controlled studies showed reduction of cholesterol of up to 12.8% and reduction of triglycerides of up to 15.2%.
Other studies showed no effect on cholesterol of two garlic preparations, underscoring the need for careful evaluation of the specific garlic product.
The most effective form of garlic is freshly crushed or chewed. The amount is four grams of fresh garlic or 900 mg of powdered garlic once a day.
Allinase is released in the mouth, producing allicin which when absorbedn lowers the cholesterol. The garlic capsule must reach the intestine to release the maximum amounts of active ingredients.
The allinase activity of the tablets seemed to be inactivated by gastric acid, resulting in failure of the tablets tested to reduce the cholesterol. There are no known contraindications to garlic. There are no known drug interactions, although caution should be exercised when used with other agents that have antiplatelet effects, such as ginger, ginkyo, vitamin E, or agents with antihypertensive effects. Because of its antiplatelet effect, garlic use should be stopped before surgery.
St. John's Wort ( SJW; Hypericum perforatum): St. John's Wort is native to
Europe but grown all over the world. The flowers are used for medicine and were thought to have magical powers.
It is commonly used for depression.
The chemical, Hyperforin, in St. John's Wort may be largely responsible for the antidepressive effects. In Europe, it is prescribed seven times more often for depression than other anti depression medications.
There appear to be no contraindications but phototoxicity is seen in animals. Caution in its use in pregnancy and also when using ultraviolet light therapy. Its main side effect is stomach upset.
Lastly, in Lancet, July 24, 1999, there was a report from Guadeloupe of
muscle rigidity, tremors, slowness of movement and poor balance due to use
of teas made from either soursop, custard apple or pomme cannelle (pomegranate).
The report indicated that although many people eat these fruits, the problems to the nervous system does not occur until people are in their 60s, says neurologist Dominque Caparros-Lefebvre of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire des Antilles. The authors caution that their work is preliminary and so it is too early to suggest that people change their diet.Studies are continuing at Harvard Medical School in Boston by a neurologist, Paul A. Rosenberg.
Many people who hesitate to take prescription medications don't think twice about self-medicating with herbal remedies. These botanicals do not have to be proven safe before they are placed on the market.
Just like prescription medicine is big business, so is herbal medicine. Just like prescription medicines must be taken in the right quantity or dose to get the desired effect, so too, do herbal medicines have to be taken in the correct dose or amount. Just like prescription drugs have side effects, so too do herbal medicines. Everyone needs more information. Learn as much as you can from reliable sources like the Food and Drug Administration's MedWatch program (800-332-1088 or 301-738-7553). Learn what works and what doesn't work.
Remember a drug is any substance used in the prevention, diagnosis, alleviation, treatment or cure of disease.

Gov. Charles W. Turnbull said Monday he will go to court to uphold his veto of the Government Accountability Act of 1999, which called on him to reorganize the executive branch.
The Senate overrode his veto earlier Monday. Turnbull immediately issued a statement announcing his intent to ask the judicial branch to uphold his authority.
"Whenever I veto a bill based on constitutional grounds and it is overridden, it means the third branch of government, whose duty is to interpret the law, must be brought in," the governor said.
Press secretary Rina McBrowne said Turnbull turned down the measure because he "was concerned by constitutional issues raised by the attorney general."
The chief executive was particularly concerned by a provision ordering the governor to reorganize the executive branch.
According to the attorney general, that direction by the Legislature violates the U.S. Constitution's provision for separation of powers, Turnbull said.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Lorraine Berry, was passed Aug. 5. The governor vetoed it Aug. 17. Berry, in her weekly radio address, said she couldn't understand why this provision would have caused the governor to veto the bill, since the Legislature had ordered a similar reorganization during the Farrelly administration in 1986.
"On my part, I continue to believe that there was no real basis for vetoing this bill and the changes to the legislation he's proposing would have been readily accepted by the Senate," Berry said.
Turnbull said Attorney General Iver Stridiron was off-island at the time he announced his intention to take the matter to court, so he could not say how soon he would proceed with his court challenge.
Here's how the senators voted.
Ten senators voted to override the bill:
Sen. Gregory Bennerson
Sen. Lorraine Berry
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole
Sen. Roosevelt David
Sen. V. Anne Golden
Sen. George Goodwin
Sen. David Jones
Sen. Norman JnBaptiste (changed from "not voting")
Sen. Allie -Allison Petrus
Sen. Vargrave Richards
Sen. Judy Gomez voted against the override. Sens. Adlah "Foncie"Donastorg and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen were absent and Sen. Adelbert M. "Bert" Bryan abstained.

Even though gallery owner Patricia Lee told friends as much as a year ago that she had inoperable cancer, news of her death came as a shock in the arts community and in her wider circle of friends over the weekend.
When her longtime friend and associate Randall Wombold told those gathered for an arts symposium Saturday of her death the afternoon before, several in attendance were moved to comment on how her enthusiasm and elan would be missed.
"Lee," as she was known to many on St. Thomas, owned the Camille Pissarro Gallery in downtown Charlotte Amalie. She had devoted much of her energy in recent years to promoting the gallery, the artist for whom it was named and the building in which it was housed — the birthplace and childhood home of the famed French Impressionist who left the islands as a young man, never to return.
According to Wombold, he and his wife, Debra, Lee's massage therapist and close friend for more than 20 years, hope to keep the gallery in operation in keeping with Lee's wishes.
An artisan in her own right, Lee produced striking contemporary jewelry from natural fibers, seeds and shells and was for many years an exhibitor at the Arts Alive fairs at Tillett Gardens. In the '80s, she and Tommy Lombardo operated the Mustard Seed, a funky emporium chock full of vintage fashions and jewelry in the space most recently occupied by Zorba's restaurant on Government Hill.
While her accent was clearly educated English, she was fond of mentioning her Berber heritage. Lee Vanterpool, a longtime friend, relates that she was born in North Africa, her mother was a Berber and her father was a British major, a military strategist and a peer of the realm. Her full name was Lady Patricia Samuel-Lee.
She spent her childhood in England, attended boarding school in Kenya for six years, then returned to England. She became a high-fashion model known as "Paddy" in the '60s, Vanterpool said. "She was the first model to wear a mini-skirt designed by Yves St. Laurent, and she introduced go-go-boots for the House of Courreges," he said. "She also modeled for the House of Dior and her favorite, Balenciaga."
She later lived in New York and Canada and was for a time married to jazz artist Bobby Timmons, whom she had met while modeling in Paris. In the late 1970s, she came to St. Thomas to visit friends and ended up staying.
Since 1996, she had owned and operated the Pissarro Gallery, an intimate exhibition space consisting of two rooms on the top floor of the onetime Pissarro family residence that runs between Main and Back Streets.
About a year ago, when she learned that she had inoperable cancer of the lungs and esophagus, "she decided that she wanted to go as naturally as possible," Debra Wombold said. "She opted for the homeopathic way, with a lot of herbal remedies."
This decision, Vanterpool said, "gave her a year of no stress to do what she felt was important, and to be free of the pain and suffering that will often attend the traditional cancer treatments."
She was seriously ill for a month, they said, and was hospitalized for two weeks.
It was Lee's wish that her body be cremated and the ashes be scattered at sea between St. Thomas and Tortola, they said. "In a couple of weeks, we hope to have a memorial ceremony at sea to do that," Randall Wombold said.

Local businessman Cornelius Prior Jr. has been appointed to the Visiting Committee of the Harvard Law School located in Cambridge, Mass.
This is an honor visited on alumni of the prestigious school by the Harvard Board of Overseers. His duties include an annual visit to the school where he will monitor classes, talk with students and faculty and report his observations to the board.
According to a spokesperson at the Dean's Office of Harvard Law School, Prior is the only such representative in the Virgin Islands and, perhaps, the Caribbean.
Prior is off-island and could not be reached for comment about his new honor.