By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 1, 2019 – My late “Aunt” Sylvia Elliott Ross, who died in August of 2012, would have been so proud of her grandson, Devereaux E. King, who is a member graduating class (Seniors and Pre-Theologians) of the Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami who are pictured in the photo accompanying this article that was among several taken during a recent group photo session.
In a caption accompanying the photos, the Seminary noted: “Please join us for Mass and Graduation on May 8th at 6:00 PM, and please keep these young Christian gentlemen in your prayers as they begin a new chapter in their journey of discernment.”
I am extremely proud of my cousin Devereaux, who I have always called Peetie, a nickname given to him from he was a baby, probably before he could walk and talk. Aunt Sylvia’s late husband was Leonard Ross, and Peetie is the son of their daughter Leonardette Ross-King and her husband, Danny King, who lives in Cat Island.
We are a very devout Roman Catholic family, and Peetie grew up demonstrating a deep commitment to the Church from his childhood years, religiously attending Mass at our parish church, Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church, through Deveaux Street in the Over-the-Hill are of Nassau, Bahamas.
It was therefore not surprising to me when Peetie decided to pursue studies to become a priest, although he initially wanted to be a chef and after high school he subsequently graduated from the culinary school of the College of The Bahamas, which is now the University of The Bahamas, before entering Saint John Vianney College Seminary in Miami.
Peetie’s grandmother, my Aunt Sylvia, was actually my first cousin. Her father was my uncle Clarence Elliott, the oldest of Ben and Mabel Elliott’s eight children; my mother Violet was the oldest of the three daughters. Cousin Sylvia and Papa and Mama’s youngest daughter, my Aunt Maria Elliott Forbes, were around the same age and /grew up like sisters. Consequently, all of the other grandchildren who were left in the care of Papa and Mama while our parents were on “The Contract” in the United States or working somewhere else in The Bahamas and I grew up calling her Aunt Sylvia.
In addition to myself, the five other grandchildren were cousins Agnes, Beryl and John, children of Uncle Lee; my late sister Elthreada Brown McPhee; and my cousin Alphonso “Boogaloo” Elliott, a son of my late Uncle Audley Elliott.
The grandchildren of Ben and Mabel Elliott were fortunate to have two very gifted and imaginative persons like Cousin Sylvia and Aunt Maria as mentors and guiding lights growing up on the Western Ridge of Stanyard Creek, Andros, in the 1940s and early 1950s. Both were “monitors” at Stanyard Creek All-Age School, which meant that us younger grandchildren had the benefit of two “teachers” living in the same house with us. They both ended up choosing teaching as their life-long careers, and there are unquestionably many students in The Bahamas who can vouch — as I certainly can — for the fact that Maria Forbes and Sylvia Ross were two excellent teachers.
Both were also staunch disciplinarians, a trait they no doubt picked up from Papa, a no-nonsense deeply religious man whose influence in the community was probably not matched by any other individual in Stanyard Creek. Papa owned the “major” grocery store, small though it was, on the Western Ridge and our family compound also consisted of a “big” and “small” house as well as a separate structure that was used as a kitchen. Papa had a very liberal policy with regard to regular customers of the grocery store. They could “trust” things they needed if they didn’t have the money at the time and pay whenever they got it.
Whatever influence Papa had as a grocer, however, paled in comparison to when he donned his cassock as a catechist at Stanyard Creek’s St. Rita’s Roman Catholic Church. The priest assigned to Andros generally made his rounds of the various settlements once a month, so Papa was responsible for conducting Mass most of the time. So, we all grew up as very devout and committed Roman Catholics. Indeed, attending church three times on Sundays—morning Mass, Sunday School and Evening Mass—was the norm for the Elliott household.
Peetie is the first member of our family to, in a manner of speaking, to make as strong a personal commitment to serving the Church as his great-grandfather Ben Elliott did., and I certainly wish him the very best as he continues his training to become a Priest.
