About Us

Lydia M. Cortés de Reid, B.A., MLS. Executive Director, author. Mrs. Reid is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Silver People Heritage Foundation. Born in Utuado, Puerto Rico, she was raised and educated in New York City. After receiving her Bachelors degree in Education and Inter-American studies from Hunter College CUNY she went on to further her studies at North Texas University where she completed her Master’s degree in Library and Information Science.

Her professional experience has included pioneering work in establishing the technical library system for the Mexican government in which she designed and directed the Technical Processes Division of the Instituto de Investigaciones Eléctricas. Her specialty has always been Special and Technical libraries and she has always enjoyed working with researchers, teachers, and students.

The Silver People Heritage Foundation has become a passion and a driving mission for Mrs. Reid. When she began researching the data for writing her articles in the history blog, The Silver People Chronicle , she quickly discovered that a unique and noble heritage, the history and culture of the people who built the Panama Canal, was about to disappear from the face of the earth if someone with writing and research skills did not showcase this wonderful group of people- The Silver People.

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Cobert Roberto A. Reid, B.A., MA. Director, author. Mr. Reid is the founder of the Silver People Heritage Foundation and one of the principal authors. Born in Panama City, Panama, he grew up during the dynamic and often turbulent periods of Panamanian history. A second generation Westindian, he was descended of Jamaican grandparents, who had come to Panama to work on the construction of the Panama Canal- members of that unique class of workers known as The Jamaican Bosses. He attended the prestigious Instituto Nacional in Panama City and then transferred to Colon to Abel Bravo College, another prestigious secondary school.

As with most youth of his time he was ever on the look out for honest employment to help support his educational goals and, as destiny would have it, he soon found himself in Bocas del Toro Province working on one of the largest banana plantations of Baseline. He was soon promoted from field hand to office clerk.

Destiny again stepped in and moved him to New York City where he hoped to receive a university education, but his dream of becoming an educated man would not materialize until after a four year stint in the U.S. Air Force, where he worked primarily on Tachikawa AFB in Japan and then Delaware. After returning to the United States he renewed his quest for his dream of entering college and soon realized that remaining in a menial job as a hospital orderly would keep him from his goal.

The way soon opened up for him to attend Hunter College of the City University of New York. He graduated from Hunter with a B.A. in Education and Black and Puerto Rican Studies. He went on to further his education and graduated with a Masters degree in Gerontology (Studies in Aging) from North Texas University in Denton, Texas.

He repatriated to his beloved Panama in the early 1990’s with his family feeling he had much to offer this developing nation. He has pursued his great life ambition, to write about his heritage and his experiences in the United States and Japan, ever since. He is the principal author behind The Silver People Chronicle (a historical weblog) and Rapsodia Antillana, its sister web site in Spanish. The Silver People Heritage Foundation was born of his great concern to prevent the disappearance of his people’s culture and historical legacy- what he calls The Silver People Heritage, and he writes and works ardently to this end.