We have come here to Wesley Methodist Church to celebrate the life of a very good and worthy Belizean and, it is altogether proper and fitting that we should do this. For, and I quote, “Life is real and life is earnest, and the grave is not its goal. Dust thou art to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul.” So, let us celebrate the soul of the man, which is immortal.
Horace Walwyn Young was born on 5th July 1922 and was 87 years old on his last birthday when he passed away on the 18th instant (April 2010). He was the first child of the union of Edward “Dad” Young and his wife Florine Young, nee Gentle. They had nine other children: Gilbert, Russell, Edward, Evan, Clive, Harold, Lawrence (whose first name is James), Helen (known to all as “Peggy”) and Gordon.
He was named after the great Roman poet and satirist. His middle name after his paternal uncle, who, along with Samuel Haynes, composed “Land of the Gods,” which became our National Anthem. Haynes wrote the words and Young the music of this wonderful hymn.
Both “Dad” and his wife were musicians, so, Horace came by his musical gifts from both sides of the family. He learned to play the piano at an early age and his talent blossomed to the point that, at the age of nineteen, he was the organizer and the leader of the junior version of the famous Melody Swingers Dance Band.
Following in the footsteps of his parents, whose Methodist faith was at the center of their lives, Horace was a model of what a practicing Methodist could be. He attended Wesley Elementary and Wesley College, where he was an outstanding student athlete. He was successful also in the Cambridge School Certificate examinations at the early age of fifteen, which qualified him for entrance to the Public Service. He was a patrol leader in the Boys Brigade and later, a prominent member of the Church Council.
The spirit of competition, strong within him, in his youthful days led him first, to individual events in track and field in the annual meets sponsored by the St. George’s Caye Day Celebrations Committee. He was National Junior Champion High Jumper. Later on, he engaged in team sports – basketball, football and cricket. He was a member of the Unity Cricket Club and the M.Y.A senior league football team.
There are two events that are remarkable in his playing career. The first one gives an insight into his sense of duty. The other is a major achievement in our sports history.
The first one: – The management of the M.Y.A football team (the initials stand for the Methodist Youth Association) were looking to improve in the left wing position. They offered Horace the job because of his athletic talent. He was strongly right-footed, but, out of loyalty, he accepted it and, he had to pay the price.
In 1948, R.M. Edwards, who was captain of the Unity Cricket Club, proposed to his team of young college graduates that they should forego a year of competition and build a sports ground. The Young family was represented on the Unity Club by four brothers, with Horace their unquestioned leader. Their votes, along with others, in the affirmative decided the issue. Out of an acre of swampland, we built Edwards Park, now Rogers Stadium and, the brothers Young did most of the work.
Like most young men with the required academic qualifications, Horace chose a career in the Civil Service. He could have expected with diligence and hard work to climb the ladder to the top post a colonial British subject might aspire to, which was District Commisioner, but fate, or, more likely, Divine Providence intervened. At the Registry he was surrrounded by law books and legal documents, and his duties were primarily of a legal nature. He had found his calling. Here began his life as a public man.
Before this, and, throughout his whole life, Horace was the quintessential family man. During his parents’ lifetime, he was the strong and dependable Big Brother to his siblings and his role changed to that of the Good Shepherd on their demise, which prepared him for the higher role of head of his own family.
In his private life, Horace was that rare creature. He was a man’s man. At home in any gathering of men, matching them with wit and humour, or solemnity, as the occasion required. And, he was also a ladies’ man. They loved him, and he reciprocated. Perhaps, it was because he was a good conversationalist, or because of his smile, which was incandescent. But, unlike the King of Siam, who went from “flower to flower to flower, like bee, to bee, to bee,” he was content with one special flower, named Norma Louise Grant. They were married when he was 27 and she was 23 years of age. From their fruitful union came Kathleen, Horace Jr., Laverne, Michael, Cislyn, Sandra and Nigel, who have been a credit to their parents and, are as proud of their father as he is of them.
His public life really began in 1951 when, while in the post of Clerk to the Registrar, he was chosen by Sir Alfred Crane to assist him in an exercise to revise the Consolidated Laws of British Honduras and in that year, he was appointed to the post of Registrar General. The following year he was awarded a scholarship to study Law at Southampton University, where he earned an Honors Degree. On his return home, he was called to the Bar and appointed Crown Counsel in 1957 and later promoted to the post of Solicitor General.
Then, in 1961, he left the Government Service to open his Law Office and practice as a Barrister. 32 years later, it was time to start a new chapter in his life of Public Service, leaving his law firm in the capable hands of his second son, who was already making a name for himself in legal circles.
As a law advocate, Horace had few peers, receiving many honors in acknowledgement of his forensic skills, while living up to the highest standards of his profession.
He was nominated by the Governor to be a member of the Legislative Assembly for the term 1961 to 1965; appointed to serve as Chariman of the Belize Advisory Council and elected National President of the World Jurist Association. In 1974 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel and 1979, the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire was conferred on him by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Among his other accomplishments while active as a Barrister, Horace was chosen by the Governor to represent Belize at the conference held in Washington in 1960 to discuss the Guatemalan claim to Belize. He served as Judge Advocate for the Belize Defence Force Courts Martial from 1985 to 1987, was appointed a Supreme Court Judge for a session in 1983 and became a member of the Court of Appeals in that year.
During his years as Law Advocate and after he retired, he was much sought after as the Guiding Hand in the affairs of many corporations and associations in the public and private sector. In all, he was Chairman or President of at least twelve of these bodies. His was also two widely disparate talents. He was the Prince of after (or before) dinner speakers and of Eulogians. Horace was blessed with many gifts of mind and spirit, and, also, a beautiful speaking voice. He would have been a great man of the cloth if he was not such a fine lawyer.
“What is a man? What has he got? If not himself, then he has not.” Horace was always true to himself, to his faith, to his family, to his calling, to his friends, community and to his nation. And, he served them all, very, very well, with a willing spirit and a glad heart.
Horatio, my Dear Old Friend, Requiescat in pace.