{{tone|date=February 2014}} {{Use Pakistani English|date=October 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Yolande Henderson | image = | image_size = | alt = | birth_name = Yolande Pinto | birth_date = 14 January 1934 – 5 December 2015 | birth_place = | resting_place = Karachi | citizenship = Pakistani | education = MA in Literature | alma_mater = Laval University, Canada | occupation = High school teacher | years_active = 1954–2006 | organization = St Patrick's High School, Karachi | spouse = Noel Kirby Henderson | children = John, Jennifer and William Henderson (teacher) | parents = Felix Martin and Genevieve Pinto | awards = }}
'''Yolande Henderson''' (14 January 1934 – 5 December 2015) was a Pakistani high school teacher.<ref name="Dawn">[https://www.dawn.com/news/666673/educationist-with-a-heart-of-gold "Educationist with a Heart of Gold"], Dawn, 16 October 2011.</ref>
==Education== Yolande Henderson attended St Anne's School in Mumbai before relocating to Pakistan in 1950.<ref name="tube">[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsbGeKiizZk Citizens Archive of Pakistan's Oral History Project], YouTube; accessed 4 December 2017.</ref> After graduating from St Joseph's College in Karachi in 1954, she began her teaching profession.
She obtained a scholarship to Laval University in Canada to pursue her MA in literature, which she completed in 1957.<ref name="Dawn" /><ref>[http://tribune.com.pk/story/1004713/mrs-hendersons-pupils-will-cherish-her-legacy/ Profile], ''The Express Tribune'', 6 December 2015.</ref>
==Career== While Father Stephen Raymond was the principal of St Patrick's High School in Karachi, she enrolled. Her teaching career at this institution lasted 34 years until she retired.<ref name="Dawn" />
Raymond was described as "an educational visionary and leader" in a 2013 memorial to the late Bishop Anthony Theodore Lobo in the Christian Voice. She finished her teacher training while teaching at St. Patrick's.<ref>"Bishop Lobo obituary", ''Christian Voice'', 10 March 2013.</ref><ref name="tube" />
Henderson took over as headmistress of the "O" Levels division at St Patrick's in 1991. The St Patrick's "O" Levels department was an institution with academics, and extracurricular activities.<ref name="Dawn" />
Henderson retired in 2006 due to deteriorating health. She is recognized as one of the professors who "focused more on life lessons and character development than on the curriculum."<ref name="dawn">[https://www.dawn.com/news/625062/service-to-god-and-country "Service to God and Country"], Dawn., 1 May 2011.</ref>
One of her former pupils praised her as "one of the most well-loved teachers and mentors"<ref>[http://tribune.com.pk/story/63998/st-patricks-high-school-spends-a-night-remembering-its-legends "St Patrick's High School spends a night remembering its Legends"], ''The Express Tribune'', 18 October 2010.</ref> during a school reunion on the 150th anniversary of its inception on 18 October 2010. Another student, Roland de Souza, called her "one of the best professors" he had ever had.<ref name="Dawn2">[http://tribune.com.pk/story/958159/a-life-well-lived-for-mrs-henderson-you-are-more-than-the-number-of-as-you-receive/ "A Life Well-Lived"], ''Express Tribune'', 17 September 2015.</ref>
The Old Patricians (past students of the school) gave the Yolande Henderson Gold Medal to the highest student from the Cambridge "O" level section at the school's 150th-anniversary closing ceremony on 6 May 2011.<ref>[http://www.theoldpatricians.org/goldmedels.htm The Old Patricians website]; accessed 8 April 2012. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130728154617/http://www.theoldpatricians.org/goldmedels.htm|date=28 July 2013}}</ref>
The Society of Pakistan English Language Teachers (SPELT) paid homage to Henderson on 12 October 2012, saying that "her pupils all over the world are better people because of her leadership."
The Express Tribune invited her to write a memorial to the late Bishop Anthony Theodore Lobo, a former administrator of St Patrick's High School, in March 2013.<ref>[http://tribune.com.pk/story/519864/bishop-anthony-lobo-was-a-gentleman-of-the-highest-order-both-humane-and-fearless/ Bishop Lobo was a gentleman of the highest order - both humane and fearless], ''The Express Tribune'', 13 March 2013.</ref>
==Death== She died of intestinal cancer on 5 December 2015, at the age of 81, in Karachi. Her funeral was conducted the next day at Karachi's Saint Patrick's Cathedral. She was put to rest at Karachi's Gora Qabaristan.<ref>[http://tribune.com.pk/story/1004421/veteran-teacher-mrs-henderson-passes-away-in-karachi/ Mrs Henderson passes away in Karachi], ''The Express Tribune'', 5 December 2015.</ref>
==Notable students== *Rashid Minhas<ref name=Dawn3>[http://www.dawn.com/news/1224376 Mrs. Henderson pases away], Dawn, 5 December 2015.</ref>
==Legacy== In her honor, an interscholastic basketball event named the Yolande Henderson Memorial Interscholastic Basketball Tournament was established in 2016. St Patrick's High School organized the competition, which was sponsored by the Karachi Basketball Association for both boys and girls.<ref name="Dawn Epaper 2016">{{cite web |date=2016-02-23 |title=Feb 23, 2016 - City School, Nixor College win inter-school basketball |url=https://epaper.dawn.com/DetailImage.php?StoryImage=23_02_2016_023_007 |access-date=2020-12-07 |newspaper=Dawn|location=Pakistan}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{portal bar|Biography|Catholicism|Christianity|Religion|Pakistan}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Yolande}} Category:Heads of schools in Pakistan Category:Pakistani Roman Catholics Category:Pakistani women Category:Pakistani people of Goan descent Category:Deaths from cancer in Pakistan Category:1934 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Pakistani schoolteachers Category:Educators from Karachi