CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF AUGUSTINE FLORES

4thMay, 1932 – 27^th January, 2010

Last Wednesday, 27^th January, the call went out in Seiri: “Aninte nege tia Augustin. Wisahumaña lagübürigu wei – Odensio tuma Higinia. Mabulieida huguya me gíen lun híchugu fe houn líbegu – Victoria, Jacinto, Dumasi luma Ezekiel agaradaha hamamuga lubá.

“Word is that Austin Flores is on his way. Make sure that his parents, Odensio and Higinia Flores are informed. And don’t forget to tell his siblings Victoria, Jacinto, Thomas and Ezekiel to be on the lookout for his arrival”. While all this commotion was going on in Seiri/the after life over the impending arrival of this beloved son and brother, left behind engulfed in grief to mourn his passing were Sally, his wife of 55 years, his children Rebecca Caliz, Clement Flores and Paulette Flores Enriquez as well as his sisters Dominica and Sarita.

Augustine Flores has, without doubt, lived a full life that has touched countless lives throughout this country as well as far beyond our borders. He has lived a life of service to his fellow human beings – a life replete with accomplishments far in excess of the many honours and awards that we have cared to bestow upon him during his life time. It is fitting, therefore, that so many of the persons that he has touched in one way or other come together as we have this afternoon to pay our last respects and to celebrate his life. And what a life it has been. He deserves no less.

By his own admission, Augustine, Austin, Flo, Mr. Flo or Prez, as he was variously known, would have been daunted, in spite of his tremendous academic accomplishments, to write this eulogy. In a review of his life conducted with Paulette last December, his said: “If there is going to be a day or time when I have to summarize my life, I will have a difficult time”. Still, I will enlist his help and draw heavily from his own words expressed in that review. I also apologize in advance if, in the end, you think that this eulogy is too long. Secondly, there is so much to say that much will have to be left out

Austin had a childhood in a home that was loving but was not blessed with material abundance. His mother, Higinia, was one of two women who had a strong influence in his upbringing. She made sure that he gave priority to his studies, that he understood and accepted their economic limitations and did not hesitate to tell him that that particular suit or the shoes that he wanted were at Brodies. In other words, prepare yourself, work, earn and you will be able to get whatever your heart desires.

The other woman who figures prominently in his early socialization was Sister Joseph Xavier. She saw his potential, pushed him to the limit and would not hesitate to punish him even when he got the highest grade in the class because, according to her, he had not done his best.  So, as he put it, “I had to work harder at school and study longer so that I could meet the expectations of Sr. Joseph Xavier”. His ethic of hard work, and attention to preparing himself to do the best that he could, can be traced back to the influence of these two women.

After five years in Std. 6 at Sacred Heart School here in Dangriga, after having taken and passed pupil teachers examinations, young Augustine got a St. John’s College Alumni Scholarship, a first for Dangriga, and began his high school education at the age of 17, graduating in 1953 at the age of 21. He then embarked on a teaching career that took him to Sacred Heart in Dangriga, Concepcion RC in Corozal, St. Alphonsus in Seine Bight, training at St. John’s Teachers’ College in Belize City, back to service at Holy Family School in Hopkins and full circle back to Sacred Heart in Dangriga for the 1961 – 1962 school year. The following year saw him at the University of Manchester where he went to take up a Commonwealth Scholarship to further his training as a teacher.

His first posting after his return from Manchester was as assistant tutor at St. John’s Teachers College. What did he have to say about that assignment? “When I worked at the teachers’ college, I resigned to go to school because I did not feel I was equipped to produce #1 students”. Because of this motivation to produce # 1 students he took steps and endured hardships to be as prepared as he could be for his work. He left St. John’s Teachers College to pursue a first degree at St. Francis College in New York and later left a posting at the Belize Teachers College to do a Master’s Degree at St. John’s University also in New York.

Austin knew from what he learnt from his Mother and Sister Joseph Xavier that he had to pay his dues as he laid his foundation for a successful career in producing #1 students. Regarding his time as a recently married student at the Teachers’ College 1957 to 1959, he wrote: “Those two years were probably the most difficult in our relationship. We went through a period of extreme poverty. To some extent we had to depend on friends and family to survive. I think to a great extent that is probably the time when we did not have enough to put food on the table”. This was to be repeated in 1972 -1974 while pursuing his Master’s degree of which he said, “This was another period when we had to make sacrifices. It was when I went back to the States that the family was subjected to another period of hardship”. He and his wife, Sally, worked hard to pay his way through school.

The sacrifices he and Sally made paid off. After successfully completing his MA at St. John’s University, Augustine returned home to find that Austin High and Stann Creek High were going to amalgamate to become Stann Creek Ecumenical College. He set his sights on the position of Vice Principal and thus commenced a long career at Ecumenical which he served in that capacity for two years and another 15 years at the helm as Principal, driven by his passion to produce #1 students. Of this period he said, “I enjoyed every day of my work. 18 years on one job I was only absent 3 days. I loved my job as principal. I worked hard and demanded perfection from my colleagues”.

I have no doubt that having meticulously prepared himself Augustine Flores really came into his own during this period. He, just as meticulously, saw to the preparation of the thousands of students who passed through his formative influence at Ecumenical while at the same time establishing himself as a leader among his peers in the Belize Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (BAPSS), successfully pushing, among other things, for the establishment of a pension for teachers in grant aided secondary schools. He presided over the continuous development and expansion of Ecumenical including the establishment of Ecumenical Junior College.

He represented Belize on various bodies of the Caribbean Examinations Council for ten years. At the same time, he came to the notice of the national authorities and was called upon to serve the country in several other capacities including the Elections and Boundaries Commission for ten years all while being an active member of the Dangriga Lions Club and proudly serving as a senior justice of the peace. He and Sally also found the time to establish Pal’s Guest house and to care enough to consistently be a supporter of the People’s United Party.

While most people associate Augustine Flores with his lifetime of service to education, there came a point in his life when his association with the National Garifuna Council and the Indigenous Movement took center stage. In 1994, three years after his retirement from Ecumenical he took over from Pablo Lambey as President of the National Garifuna Council and led the organization until 1998 and again in 2003. His vision of the NGC was broad and he embraced the view that we needed to establish and strengthen linkages with like entities in Belize and elsewhere. He got interested in the Central American Indigenous Council (CICA) and had a big hand in the founding of BENIC, the Belize National Indigenous Council, of which he was President for many years. In that capacity he represented the indigenous people of Belize in Fondo Indigena. Another major accomplishment of this period was the founding, under his leadership, of CABO, the Central American Black Organization, in a gathering the NGC organized in Dangriga. He was its first president and subsequently served several terms as vice president when the presidency moved to Honduras.

He felt that Belize had a lot to offer and that we had a responsibility to lead. His involvement with the NGC, CABO and the Indigenous movement took him to many countries: all over Central America, South America and beyond. I fondly recall how he, the late Buyei John Mariano, Canon Jerris Valentine and I made several trips to the Orinoco in Nicaragua to assist in their Garifuna language and cultural retrieval efforts, an initiative that was very near and dear to his heart.

But what about Augustine Flores, the man? How was he seen? Some might regard him as brash, arrogant and abrasive. As his son Clement rightly put it, “There was a method to his madness”. He himself said, “I do not necessarily tell my friend what he/she wants to hear. That is primarily the reason why I don’t have many friends. I am not easily swayed by the crowd; I am prepared to stand alone”. There is no question about it; he was prepared to stand alone in defence of what he saw as the truth and in the interest of arriving at the best decision. I am sure that his former colleagues in BAPSS, in CABO and all the organizations, national and international, that he has been a part of can come up with hundreds of examples of critical moments when he took leadership, stopped the beating around the bush and cutting to the chase. He certainly was not one to be intimidated.

His apparent abrasiveness and brashness were also a defense to mask a certain softness and his concern. Maud Castillo, to luguñou, tells of this instance when her son Greg was entering a race that he evidently was not up to. Flo, the Principal, looked at him as the race was about to start and mockingly said, “Híi, híi”. (We Garinagu know what that means!!) Greg won the race. Kristy Hays, a former Peace Corps Volunteer with NGC wrote, “My favorite memories of Mr. Flo always start the same way: my walking into Pal’s and hearing the greeting “What the hell are you doing here?” Which was always immediately followed by “Why the hell are you not sitting down?” His gruff exterior belied an incredibly kind and generous soul who always welcomed me to come and sit and talk. And as I sat, he taught: the value of community, the history of his culture, the value of education, the value in remembering and rejoicing in your friendships, relationships and family, and of his pride in his culture. On my last trip to Belize we spoke about all of that and the importance of being willing to make change and to make a difference.

Then, there is Augustine Flores, the Farmer. Sally says that he has always wanted to be a farmer. Governor Oxworth visited his class at Sacred Heart and asked who was the smartest person in the class. When Sr. Joseph Xavier pointed him out, the governor asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. He replied that he wanted to be a farmer- not the answer that was to be expected from the star pupil in those days! Years later, after making fun of me when I starting farming, he became an even more avid farmer than me and a leading member of the Starch Producers’ Cooperative. He was proud of his products and sold them at the reception at Pal’s Guest house. The week before he died, he bragged to me about a fifteen pound yam he dug just a few days earlier.

When asked, “What was the proudest moments in your life?” his reply was:

“As a farmer. I felt proud when I produced both students and products. I feel when I produce from the farm. When my children did well”. Ecumenical, Dangriga, NGC, CABO, the Atlantic Coast of Central America were all his farm and the people his children.

Finally, there was Augustine Flores, the protector. That is how Paulette sees him. She can still hear him tell Clem or anyone else le ananihati tun, “Leave the young lady alone” or from his sick bed in his daily telephone calls checking on her in Louisville, Kentucky, threatening to go over there to deal with whoever might be harassing her.

Guento ti, gubidali Austin. Tügülali lidasin. A towering figure of this community and this country has left us. I want to assure Mom, as he called his wife Salome Almira Lino Flores, his children Rebecca, Clem and Palpal, that in accordance with our spirituality as Garinagu, he will continue to be our teacher, our guide and your protector from Seiri, his place among the Áhari, the Ancestors.  Ígira waméi lun lameragun lidan Darangilaü lubá liúnragún ya lau uweirigun. May our friend, Augustine Flores, rest in Peace and rise in glory.

E. Roy Cayetano

1^st February, 2010

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