NASSAU, Bahamas, June 1, 2024 – His Excellency Wendall K. Jones, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States, was among those paying tribute to the Hon. A. Loftus Roker at the state funeral held for the late renowned Bahamian politician at the Christ Church Cathedral on Friday, May 31 2024
Following is the full text of the ambassador’s remarks:
TRIBUTE TO THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF THE LATE HONOURABLE A. LOFTUS ROKER, FORMER MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, BY H.E WENDALL K. JONES, BAHAMAS AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DELIVERED ON FRIDAY, 31ST MAY, 2024, AT CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL, NASSAU, BAHAMAS
Your Excellency, the Governor-General, Prime Minister and Members of the Cabinet, Senators and Members of the House of Assembly, Senior Officials of the Government, Members of the Clergy, Members of the Bereaved Family, Ladies and Gentlemen:-
Today we say goodbye to the eldest son of the late Elkin Roker and his wife Delores Roker of Delectable Bay, Acklins and we celebrate the life and service of a freedom fighter, a Patriot, a Statesman and one of the founding fathers of The Bahamas.
To his devoted wife of many decades, Ruby, I confess my inadequacy to encapsulate the contribution of your husband, a giant in the modern history of our country in a short period of time.
Loftus Roker represented the quintessence of an Acklins man — hardworking, frugal and family oriented. He had a sister Edith, who was a nurse in England and was extremely close to his surviving brother, Leonard. They all grew up until their teen years in Delectable Bay, Acklins.
In that farming and seafaring community, their father was a merchant, and a trader who placed a high premium on education. Loftus Roker had an intellectual curiosity and thirst for knowledge that enabled him to achieve some of the best results in his Cambridge examinations at the Pompey Bay All-Age School in 1952. That enabled him to gain entry in the University of London where he read law.
His family knew how he immersed himself reading books late at night by kerosene lamp in that hard-edged place where people refused to believe they were poor financially and because they were rich with so many qualities of life.
There are thousands of Bahamians who are oblivious of the struggles of a courageous generation of young Bahamians who led the political change, to address social injustice, racial discrimination and to bring about Majority Rule and Independence.
Many men of different talents and skills have served as Ministers of Government and many more will do so as the decades unfold, bringing different strengths and glory to these Islands of The Bahamas. Fifty or one hundred years from now as the historians review the accomplishments and the context of all who would have served as Cabinet Ministers, I believe it will be said that in the life of this country no Minister was more courageous, more principled and more honourable than A. Loftus Roker.
He believed in a Bahamas of equality where the walls of separation and discrimination based on race and colour could be eradicated.
He helped to govern in the last quarter of the 20th century with virtues learned in his boyhood — virtues like self-pride and honesty. They believed in causes larger than themselves.
He loved his native land Acklins and he greeted me at the Spring Point Airport that he was instrumental in constructing in typical Acklins parlance and dialect, asking: “You know where ya dere boy?”
In my many conversations with Mr. Roker, I found his peculiarities as a man mind boggling. He regaled me with stories of self-determination, self-sufficiency, personal responsibility, and independence. A real Archivist, he held on to everything, including letters from his mother which he showed me. His mantra came from the Proverbs: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favour rather than silver and gold”.
During a Mail Strike in London when he attended university in the early 50s, his allowance was not coming from The Bahamas. He was told by fellow students that he should go to the Salvation Army which was providing free meals. He started out on the four-mile journey and when he saw the Salvation Army sign in a distance, he remembered that his mother told him not to beg. He turned around, went home and boiled one of two potatoes and went to bed.
His mother, he said, didn’t want him in politics. I asked why. He said, because you had to beg for votes.
But politics is not a pure undertaking, not if you want to win; it is not. It was his idea that something dramatic had to be done one blessed day in 1965 called “Black Tuesday”. His then law partner, Lynden Pindling, and his mentor Milo B. Butler made it happen. Mr. Roker, sometime later was that Minister who Sir Lynden trusted unequivocally.
Today, many politicians can learn from his sagacity and integrity. The Hansard of the House of Assembly records that he said in the early 1980s that he did not want anyone in his beloved North Andros constituency who was involved in illegal drugs voting for him. He showed us the power of action. He had a stubborn sense of fairness and was not prepared to compromise his principles or the law for the sake of a larger goal. But there is a dichotomy here: While he was admired by thousands, he was equally feared by thousands, especially illegal immigrants, because of his insistence to follow the immigration laws and policies of The Bahamas.
Contrary to popular belief, he believed that he was more effective as a Minister with the portfolio of Works and Utilities in providing the infrastructure for the economic development of The Bahamas, particularly in the Family Islands.
Loftus Roker was the common man’s common man. He was at peace with himself and was comfortable playing dominoes in Spring Point, Acklins, at Potter’s Cay or Montague in Nassau with ordinary people, as he was on a fishing trip with President George H.W. Bush or the rich and famous off Chub Cay. And he would tell you that he was one of the best line fishermen in The Bahamas.
In life, he was often a man on a boat smiling broadly as he sailed into the contrary winds alone — ready for whatever storm might come, but holding on to his principles, believing that it would take him to a wonderful place.
And when he retired from active politics, this outstanding nation builder, this fierce defender of the progressive movement believed that we were doing well and were proud to be a Bahamian. Like his friend, the former President of Tanzania, the late Julius Nyerre who became a farmer in retirement, Loftus Roker maintained farms in both Nassau and Acklins, a true man of the soil.
As the late Reverend Doctor Benjamin Mays would put it: “He was not ahead of his time. Each man is within his star, each on his time. Each man must respond to the call of God in his lifetime and not in somebody else’s time. And it is not how long one lives, but how well.”
The words of William Ernest Henley in the now forgotten Royal Reader aptly describes the resilience and inner strength of the man: “Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.
“I am the Master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
When you take a sweep of his life and as we commend his soul to God, those who knew him would agree that A. Loftus Roker helped to make our lives and The Bahamas freer and better, that he lived with integrity and left behind a good name.
May he rest in peace!
VIDEO OF STATE FUNERAL FOR THE HON. A. LOFTUS ROKER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPGzzfXRs6k
