When I was sent to Anguilla on a job assignment in 1984, it was a special time on the island. Because only fifteen years had passed since the revolution, and fewer than four years had passed since it officially separated from St. Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla was an unusually young nation that was poised for many great things, including the promise of self-determination. The opportunity for me to experience it when the island and I were both young and youthful, I think, was a gift. Another gift came in the form of Anguilla’s unusually friendly and accepting people.
I lived in Anguilla for about a year, which was plenty enough time to develop life-lasting friendships and relationships. One such relationship was with Dr. David Berglund, the American that many belongers will remember as the island’s first veterinarian; he and his wife Charlotte lived at the end of the road near me in Corito. In 2004, Dave revealed the true story of his involvement in the Anguilla revolution. It sparked me to write a screenplay called “Anguilla Rising.”
Writing the screenplay meant I needed to get to know more people, including James Ronald Webster. I finally met him in March of 2005, a few days after his seventy-ninth birthday. Real heroes are hard to find; the chance to meet a revolutionary leader and Father of a Nation was another gift! Having said that, I never could have imagined that in the last chapter of Mr. Webster’s life – eleven more years – he and I would become close personal friends.
Last week, I was both deeply honored and humbled to celebrate Ronald’s remarkable life with his family and friends in Anguilla. The next day, I visited John “Bob” Rogers, the patriot and revolutionary whom the Honourable Chief Minister Victor Banks called out as the “last surviving founder of the Revolution” during his address to the audience at St. Mary’s Church. Bob was one of the first people I met in Anguilla back in 1984. I try to visit him whenever I’m on the rock.
In October of 2013, I facilitated a reunion between Bob and Ronald, two old friends who let a revolutionary rift stand between them for forty-five years. It took a couple of years of coaxing them, because stubbornness can be unforgiving, but they eventually agreed to meet. With an immense amount of support provided by Bob’s son Conrad, the patriots met at Mr. Webster’s home on the afternoon of October 11th. I took several photographs; the one accompanying this article says it all.
Historian and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough once said,
“To me, history ought to be a source of pleasure. It isn’t just part of our civic responsibility. To me, it’s an enlargement of the experience of being alive.” In contemplating his words, I’ve discovered that they’ve not only been pumping through my veins since I landed in Anguilla in October of 1984, they’ve embodied much of what I’ve done with my life since. So much so, Anguilla’s rich history has not only enlarged my experience of being alive, I’m certain it’s why I’ve been gifted with the honor and privilege of friendship with so many of its heroes and patriots.
(Gary Rodrigues lives in Massachusetts. He is currently in the final throes of writing a book about the Anguilla revolution. You can follow his efforts on Facebook at www.facebook.com/anguillarising.)
