By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 7, 2023 – Paul Fernander posted an excellent commemorative essay on Facebook on August 30 following the death of the late Patricia Thomas that I absolutely had to share with readers of my online publication, BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which has a huge following among the Bahamian diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom as well as in The Bahamas and the wider Caribbean.
Patricia and I were very close friends from our teenage years. She used to attend after-school classes held by my late Aunt Maria Elliott-Forbes at our homestead through Paul Meeres Corner (now Fleming Street), opposite Keith Chicken In Bag take-out restaurant.
After graduating from Bennett College in North Carolina in 1956, Aunt Maria – the youngest daughter of my grandparents, Ben and Mabel Elliott of Stanyard Creek, Andros – returned home and embarked on a teaching career that became the foundation of her life-long commitment to the education of young Bahamians.
Shortly after she came from college, Aunt Maria renovated the wooden house that was built through Paul Meeres Corner by my late Uncle Clarence Elliott – the eldest of Papa and Mama’s seven children — before he relocated to New York in the 1940s. Firstly, she converted one of the three bedrooms into an indoor bathroom, which meant that we did not have to continue using the outdoor toilet at the back perimeter of the property.
My late cousin Alphonso “Boogaloo’ Elliott and I lived with Aunt Maria, and when Patricia started attending after-school classes, we both were enamored by her stunning beauty and had a “boyhood crush” on her. In later years, Patricia used to tease me about how Boogaloo and I used to “harass her” while she was trying to get a good education.
I relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1975 and had very little first-hand knowledge about the contributions by Patricia Thomas that Paul Fernander so vividly recalls in the narrative below that I decided to share as a Guest Commentary:
GUEST COMMENTARY: BY PAUL FERNANDER
As I sit here and think about the passing of Patricia Thomas, I remembered hearing how she was the model on the fifty-cents paper note as well her starring on the Dundas stage, especially in some of James Catalyn’s classics: “Laughing At We Self” and “Summer Madness”.
A not so well-known fact is that Patricia Thomas was an excellent writer of scripts for the stage. We would work together during her time on the ZNS 1 Morning Show as one of the co-hosts. Her on-air name was Sister Sara and her other co-hosts were Val “Sweet Boy” Maura and Claudette “Cookie’” Allen.
In their morning show that aired Monday to Friday, ZNS had a gold mine, but the powers that be, in my opinion, did not invest the time the show needed to make it a radio institution. Our paths would continue to cross as Patricia Thomas was a great choice for Bahamian colloquial TV and Radio commercials.
My most enjoyable encounter with Patricia Thomas was in her portrayal of Sister Sara on the radio serial soap Jeanne Thompson and Mrs. Sonia Mills co-authored called the “The Fergusons of Farm Road”, which debuted on May 13, 1970. The radio program had been developed at the request of the Ministry of Tourism, which wanted a show aimed at encouraging Bahamians to improve their attitudes towards tourists. Rather than simply fulfilling this official goal, the soap became an example of the creative power of Bahamian culture. For the first time Bahamians could listen to the radio and hear themselves telling their story, in their language, from their perspective in an expressive form.
The Fergusons was so popular that its initial three-month run was extended to five years. All of the main characters worked in the tourism industry. Ezekiel Ferguson, whose family provided the soap’s focus, was a Baptist minister and taxi driver; his wife “Mina” a straw vendor. They had four children, three boys and a daughter named Blossom. Their neighbors were Ms. Lye, a street vendor, and Sister Sara, who both added the spice.
In life, many persons cross your timeline. Patricia Thomas crossed my timeline in so many ways and when she started using Facebook, she would constantly send me messages of encouragement. She would give me guidance and correct me when my knowledge failed me.
To her daughter Gia and Ian her nephew, who is considered her son, and all the family, my wife Porcia and I extend our condolences. May the Soul of Patricia Thomas and All the Souls of the Faithfully Departed Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Paul Fernander worked at the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas for many years.
