On leaving friends behind
published: Friday | March 7, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE SAD thing about leaving Jamaica after a few years of exceptional beauty, sheer enjoyment, great culture, original music, avant garde literature... is that one leaves friends behind, friends one thinks are immortal and will be there forever, ready to welcome you back.
My close friends were Lady Mary Mitchell, Victor Reid, Morris Cargill and Hector Wynter. This time, I wish to express my regrets at the passing of the Hon. Hector Wynter whom I knew as a diplomat, linguist and scholar. I was introduced to him by UNESCO boss in Paris, the Hon. Si el Fassi, Ambassador for the Kingdom of Morocco, his colleague and personal friend for some 20 years. Then I came to Jamaica, to work with bauxite if I remember well.
Hector etait un grand homme du vingtieme siecle avec les qualites de l' honnete homme du dix-septieme, doue di'un sens de l'humour et de l'honneur sans age, ni frontieres.
(Hector was a great man of the 20th century with the qualities of an honest man of the 17th century, endowed with a sense of humour and honour, timeless and without limits).
So after all he was not immortal, just a visionary of international dimension. Adieu Hector.
