Students and teachers of the Technical Studies Department of the Albena Lake-Hodge Comprehensive School joined family members and friends of the late Teacher Esterlin Silwood Connor in celebrating his memory and birthday on Monday, July 14.
A number of Fourth and Fifth form students, from his former construction and electrical class, affixed a memorial plaque to a bench made by their department, and placed it near his tomb at Sandy Ground Cemetery. The bench provides a place where students (who were close to him), family members, and other visitors, can sit and meditate.
The late Technical Teacher, who would have been 27 years old on Monday, died in a collision on the Long Path, Sandy Hill, along with Marlon Harrigan of Pond Ground, East End, on September 20, 2013. They were to have left the island the following day for a car race in Nevis, representing the Anguilla Drag Race Association.
Mr Wesley Williams, Head of the school’s Technical Studies Department, told The Anguillian that the provision of the bench was “a gesture of love and affection from Connor’s family, students and colleagues of which I am one.” He stated that the bench was built by Mr Franklyn Brandon, a woodcraft teacher at the school for many years, and a very close friend of Mr Connor.
Mr Williams described the bench as having been built from concrete, but overlaid with wood and painted white and pink. “The pink represents the colour that Mr Connor loved and cheered for, having been a very strong supporter of Pink House,” he explained. “It will provide a comfortable seat where persons visiting the grave can sit and meditate.”
Esterlin Silwood Connor
Sil’s sister, Teacher Shauna Connor, was grateful to the teachers and students of the school for their kind gesture. “They decided to build a bench in memory of him, and they found it fitting to dedicate it to him today – his birthday.” She said the family was still trying to adjust to her brother’s untimely death. “It is extremely hard. We still have so many questions, and we can’t believe it is almost a year since he died.”
Meanwhile, Simone Connor, another sister, expressed general thanks to everyone for their support on behalf of her family. She told The Anguillian: “I just want everyone to know that we are very appreciative, and are very glad, that everyone recognised the beauty and strength that was in our brother. We are grateful that he was able to impact the world in a positive way, so that his students would want to make such a meaningful and long-lasting contribution in his honour.”
Ms Donna Banks, a close family friend, said a prayer during the placing of the bench at the grave of the late teacher; and Landvol “Panther” Hughes, of Panther Vibes International, took the opportunity to release the band’s new song Go Down in tribute to his friend. The song is sung by three members of the band.
Connor was laid to rest, on October 7, 2013, in a twin tomb which is also occupied by the remains of his grandmother, Elizabeth William Hodge, who died four days following his tragic death.
