After World War II ended in 1945, a lot of pregnancies began to take place in the United States. The Americans refer to the generation of their citizens born in the two or three years after the war as “Baby Boomers.” They consider the many pregnancies a “baby boom,” hence “Boomers.”
I think the same sort of thing must have been happening in other countries, like little British Honduras. I believe that what we saw going on with the Righteous Crowd around ’63, ’64, ’65, involved the coming to age of our own Baby Boomers in Belize. Some of my generation did a lot of partying at Kevurtis “Budu” Andersen’s home on North Front Street. As far as I know, all the male principals in those parties – Norman Fairweather, Dick Lewis, Steve Tillett, Dennis Henry, Percy Mutrie, Junior Yorke (deceased), KREM TV’s very own Cliff Lewis, Chubby Reneau, Evan Evans, Kent Bladon (deceased), etc., etc., etc., are Belize Baby Boomers.
You can count me in that generation. I was born in April of 1947. On Sunday night, I had two other Belize Baby Boomers over to my home. These are Dennis H. Young, a Harvard Ph. D. who is visiting home from the States, and Bill Lindo, who spent time at several universities in New York during the 1960’s, and is very, very well read. I really enjoyed myself listening to my two contemporaries debate and argue, and I learned quite a bit.
Over the years, you know, we who are his friends/contemporaries have often made fun of Dennis, behind his back, because he is by far the most “academic” amongst us. He is extremely focused and disciplined and productive. Dennis has travelled all over the world, and there is no subject you can introduce with which he is not acquainted.
I believe Dennis is a full-fledged American citizen, and I believe he does consultancy work for American businesses and institutions, in addition to teaching in various universities from time to time. Dennis is not a man who talks much about himself, and while I would not describe him as humble, he is not an egotist. And, he knows how to listen. Thus, he acquires and absorbs a lot of information and knowledge. Harvard is considered the most prestigious university in the United States, and a Ph. D. from same constitutes credentials enough in any part of the world. But watching Dennis operate at an age when people like me are retiring, I am even more impressed with him than I have always been.
I can’t continue without letting you know that Dennis and Norman Fairweather are friends from primary school: they are close. I know that Dennis and Norman were at St. Michael’s College together when Hurricane Hattie struck in October of 1961. After the hurricane, Dennis went to Boston, where his maternal grandmother had gone to live after working with United Fruit. He attended a prep school and was admitted to Harvard, from which he graduated in 1967. Norman went to school in Jamaica for a while. When he returned home, he was the icon of our generation.
Now, I know that my brother-in-law, Jeff Scott, went to Wesley College. I have no idea when and how he and Norman became such close friends. I’d have to guess while they both were in New York City. Jeff and Dennis are also very good friends, and, again, I can’t say when and where their relationship began.
Soon after Hattie, our family moved close to the Fairweather home on Freetown Road, so I think this is where I first met Norman. But, I can remember Dennis and Norman at Michael’s, just by face, while I was at St. John’s College before the hurricane changed our lives in 1961.
Almost every single member of the Righteous migrated to America. As far as I know, none of them has returned, except Junior Yorke and Cliff Lewis. After Dartmouth, I came home in 1968, and here is where I’ve stayed. Bill returned from New York in 1971, and has stayed put. Jeff Scott was in New York in the early 1970’s, and then returned home to stay.
I’m telling you these things in order to give you a sense of how so much of our lives and our linkages were fractured by Hurricane Hattie and its aftermath. I was watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon this week, and “That’s all, folks” brought back memories of Palace Theatre. I mean, Palace was probably the biggest part of our entertainment lives when we Belize Baby Boomers were growing up. As Tony Wright is always saying, the “Alberts” was sensational in our time, and Palace Theatre was the biggest thing on the main.
Before the hurricane, my generation had an identity, and our people had solidarity. Yes, we Baby Boomers were very, very curious about America even before Hattie, but there was a flavor to our life in Belize which began to disappear, and it has disappeared for good, Jack. In New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, Belizeans recaptured that life flavor whenever Lord Rhaburn would bring his combo to their town. But Rhaburn doesn’t have a combo for many years now.
Before Hattie, we had something going on here. It was humble, but it was beautiful. I’ve quoted these Brook Benton lines so many times in the past, but there’s no better way to say it: We got what we wanted, but we lost what we had.