Tarik Weekes, Contributor

Sir John Compton, the late Prime Minister of St. Lucia.

Although my encounters with Sir John Compton were minimal, I looked upon him as one of the greatest elders in our society. In my time as a journalist he struck me as one dedicated to the cause, hard-working and persistently unmoveable. He struck me as the last nationalist politician, not the official or senior bureaucrat of a politician that we appear to have today.

Without restricting the expressions and values of his and the Caribbean people he supported, and consoled when failed, the idea of a political and economic union.

He pursued for 'the eight' a relief from their agony by encouraging policies that had education, health and infrastructural outcomes that would breathe out the kind of economic development needed by St. Lucia and the rest of the Windward and Leeward islands. This is the man I remember as a politician.

I also remember him as a farmer. In my days as a competitive cyclist I would often pass a focused Sir John every Saturday morning heading from Micoud to Castries in his green, two-door Nissan truck. It may have seemed coincidental to some but it signalled for me a man who was conscious of his roots. It depicted to me a man who knew about the inner depths of a country and the contribution that these had and could make to national development. I think of it as not only metaphorical but a huge statement, for the man who led Helen to independence to be a farmer, a lawyer and a politician in every literal sense.

The loved and the strong

There is also Sir John, the loved and the strong. It was astonishing for me to see how in Soufriere a man could stir so many people to have faith in a party just by him being present. It was startling to see elderly women and even men cry when he walked into the community centre in Soufriere at the convention, which saw him take the reins of leadership of the United Workers Party (UWP) for the last time. The atmosphere in the centre was fiery and filled with jubilation, and persons waved the flambeau over Sir John's head continuously.

The people tugged at him, hugged him and fell to his beckoning when he leapt on to a two-foot high stage and asked them to settle down. The strength of an 81-year-old Sir John was not just physical but deep. The receiving of Sir John at the convention said a lot for a country born with a party cleavage structure, to have a charismatic personality command people to vote and listen to him. For those present it was not about the party, it was about Sir John.

I have many memories of the 'Father of our Nation'. I could never forget the first time I interviewed him. It was in the early morning and I sat in the waiting area of his office in William Peter Boulevard more anxious about meeting the man than the 'big story that was going to break.' After anxiety freed me enough to enter his office, I went in and found a Sir John with complete bewilderment on his face. Then came the light but stern voice directed to the journalist standing next to me.

"I don't remember you asking to speak with me," he said.

With little showing, my colleague and competition had just got his cards to leave. Apparently, this young, overzealous colleague had played me and Sir John's secretary for fools; letting us believe that he had actually arranged to speak with Sir John when he was only being a parasite. For me it was an exclusive now but it really was about principles of discipline and courtesy. That may have been the rock that Sir John stood on for most of his life.

The interview was short but full with substantial perspectives on the "National Alliance" which was being postulated by the late George Odlum. Perhaps it was the lawyer in him, but it did not take me long to realise that Sir John was one of those individuals who said a lot in very few words. He had many concerns, including taking back the country's real estate from foreign hands.

Some call him the man of the century but Sir John Compton remained over many generations a stronghold for all St. Lucians. He was like a seat that could never be lost. His mind, heart and will were consumed by St. Lucia. His life will continue to run through our soil, wetting the dry with hope, and our leaders with example.

Tarik Weekes is an Msc. student at The University of the West Indies, Mona.