In Memory of Eldon Mathurin

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]ldon Mathurin was one of three boys born to Cornibert William Mathurin and his wife Irene. Irene was from Dutch St. Maarten. She came to Saint Lucia around the same time as Derek Walcott’s mother. The purpose of Irene’s visit was to help her uncle Arundel, after whom Arundel Hill at Marchand Road is named, in his importation and distribution of sea salt from St. Maarten. Eldon’s father was from Fond St. Jacques, Soufriere. He was, in 1894, the first winner of a scholarship to St. Mary’s College. He was then just 12 years old.

Eldon’s second brother, Keith, died early at age 21. Eldon was also pre-deceased by his first brother Guy and his cousin Clem Labega, of whom he was very fond. Clem’s daughter Noreen is here, to represent Jassie La Bega and the rest of the La Bega clan.  Eldon’s older brother Guy Mathurin was awarded the island scholarship in 1942 and returned in the mid-1940s, a brilliant young lawyer. With Sir Garnet Gordon he established the island’s first law chambers. That was long before Gordon and Salles Miquelle or Gordon, Gordon & Co. Guy died in his prime in a vehicular accident in 1957 at Bois d’Orange.

Eldon attended the Castries Methodist School along with Derek Walcott, George Odlum and other bright worthies of their generation. He entered St. Mary’s College at the ripe age of nine years; yes nine! On leaving St. Mary’s, Eldon worked briefly in the accounts department of M & C under Ivan George, Calixte George’s father. Eldon’s father was the floor manager at the firm’s hardware department. After a brief stint at M & C, Eldon migrated to England to further his studies. He took a job with the British Post Office and soon afterwards joined the British Army. He had to obtain a special dispensation before enlisting, since he was only 17. He was assigned to the Royal Signals where he met other notable West Indians, mainly from Barbados and Trinidad. Eldon loved telecommunications technology but he decided there was little prospect at the time in the UK for promotion in that field. He focused instead on the Inland Revenue department where he received specialized training from the British government, as a tax revenue officer. He often told the story of the large sums of money that were sometimes deposited at the entrance to the department, with no identity marks. The department believed that these monies were left there by conscience-stricken Englishmen, who had avoided paying taxes and wished to share their gains with Inland Revenue.

When Saint Lucia became an Associate State, the British government sent Eldon Mathurin as a technical expert, to assist Premier Compton revamp the island’s Inland Revenue department. On returning to Saint Lucia he was reunited with his childhood friend Leonora Hamilton aka ‘No-No’. Together they had received their first Holy Communion. No-No is still with us. After Eldon’s work in Saint Lucia was done, Premier Compton asked him to help put the department on a more solid footing. Eldon complied—at half the pay he received from the British government. He became a senior tax adviser to the CARICOM Secretariat in Guyana, and served for some 12 years with such luminaries as Willie Demas, Alister Macintyre and Rodrick Rainford, with whom he developed a close personal relationship. He also worked with Edwin Carrington on different projects covering taxation and financing in the region.

At Prime Minister John Compton’s invitation, Eldon returned to Saint Lucia in 1985 to direct and chair the Saint Lucia Tourist Board. Eldon discovered that certain persons were using the funds of the board to travel on trips for their private businesses. When he brought this to the attention of the prime minister the guilty parties began a vicious campaign against him. He decided that such an environment was not healthy for him or for Saint Lucia. He quit in 1988. He once showed me thank-you letters from tourism minister George Mallet and Prime Minister Compton, for his services to the industry.

Eldon had four boys and a girl by his first wife. The first, second and third children, Guy, Cheryl and Christopher, were born in the UK; Kenneth and Jean were born in Saint Lucia. Eldon worked hard throughout his life. He was passionate about the region and its people and, although he had few friends, he was loyal to those whom he called friends.

Eldon adored his brother Guy of whom he often spoke. He spoke just as glowingly, even with awe, about Guy’s wife, the Jamaican-born Lucille who made a tremendous impression on the girls she taught at St. Joseph Convent in the mid-1950s. Many former students of SJC remember Mrs. Lucille Mathurin for the meticulous care she took in preparing her lessons and her sense of fashion and carriage. Lucille went on to teach at UWI, Mona and later represented Jamaica as Ambassador to the United Nations. Their daughter Gail is CARICOM Director of Trade, based in Barbados. Gail previously served Jamaica as High Commissioner in London. Their two sons David and Adrian, Eldon’s nephews, live in Jamaica.

The foregoing may seem like a job resume for my friend Eldon but, of course, none of it will be required for the new place to which he has been called. So, I turn now to the qualities most likely to impress the titans who guard the gated community of the great Valhalla: Eldon was a kind and generous person. He had a strong sense of national service. He  offered good advice whenever requested but was always a no-nonsense man. He was a member of the St. Lucia Forum who stood by his principles. He loved his children dearly and encouraged them to discuss with him any matter they considered important. He cherished loyalty; lived life to the fullest. He loved music and would burst into song with friends and loved ones; he especially loved the so-called golden oldies. Eldon was a fantastic oral historian on Castries and Saint Lucia, which knowledge he often shared with his friends.

One of the persons who may have known Eldon best was his dear wife and partner, Guyanese Joan Richards with whom he enjoyed a 10-year friendship that blossomed into love and marriage in 1988. As a former Barclays Bank employee, Joan worked in various countries in the Caribbean and was trained in London. She and Eldon often travelled the Caribbean and the world together. In almost every country they visited, someone seemed to know Eldon. A trip to Kenya stands out. They were invited to visit a Maasai village in 1997 by a friend, himself a Maasai. When they arrived the gate was closed but it was soon opened, because a member of the tribe had accompanied them. Upon entry into the compound the little children gathered around Eldon. Instinctively, he laid his hand on the forehead of the first child. Each child then followed and the laying of the hand continued until Eldon had touched every child on the head. Only afterwards did his Maasai friend explain to him that the children believed him to be an elder of the tribe. And he had unknowingly greeted them in the manner customary among the Maasai. Everywhere Joan and Eldon went in Africa, Ethiopians and Somalians greeted him, thinking him a member of their tribe.

Joan related the story of their visit to Venezuela. She was certain no one would know them there. When they returned to Caracas airport on their way home, someone shouted from a distance: “Eldon!” The shouter turned out to be a former CARICOM colleague on his way to Guyana from Columbia, via Caracas. A good thing Joan had not wagered on her hunch. We can be heartened in the knowledge that Eldon is happily reunited with his friends Norman Etienne, Leo ‘Spar’ St. Helen, Stanley French, Cyril Cozier, Sparco, Gus Compton and cousin Clem Labega and others.