Dear Editor,
In a short period of time NV GEBE has to say good-bye to another local managing director. It was not long ago that NV GEBE had to say good-bye to engineer Mr. Ir. Juluis Lambert. Now, for the second time, in a very short period we have to do it all over again. St. Maarten has lost another TH engineer – another role model for our youth to look up to.
In the short time he spent with us at NV GEBE, he has left a mark. On St. Maarten we don’t honour our own enough. For someone to become a TH engineer in the Dutch educational system they have spent a lot of years studying. The degree lies somewhere between a Master’s degree and PhD degree.
I met Mr. William Brooks on my first day of school, in the first grade at the Oranje School back in the day. We both were two six year olds with similar names, Brooks and Brown so the Dutch teacher at the time put us together in the front row. We spent the whole school year talking to each other. It was one discussion after another until we got a new teacher. This new teacher was a little stricter and reprimanded us every time for talking too much. The only thing I could remember of her today was her big afro.
Both of us went to the St. Peters Hillside School together when it was still part of Oranje School. (Oranje School in town at the time could not accommodate all the school children). We then moved to the Milton Peters College in different schools. As luck would have it we crossed paths again, this time at the University of the Netherlands Antilles in Curaçao. The discussions were similar to those we had at our previous schools.
Upon my return from studying abroad I began working at NV GEBE. It was not long before I began to hear that Mr. William wanted to work for NV GEBE and the politicians were dragging their feet.
As president of the Windward Island Chamber of Labour Unions at the time, it was logical that I could not let this pass by not expressing my opinion on the matter. We as a union wrote a letter to the executive council where we stated that we support this local engineer for Managing Director of NV GEBE. We would not accept anyone else but our own local engineer.
The Commissioner of Public Works blasted the union on the GIS press conference for our letter. We stood our grounds and in the end Mr. William Brooks was appointed. It was the first time in our history that we had a local managing director in a local company being replaced by another local of equal calibre. That was one of my proudest achievements in NV GEBE and I was instrumental in bringing this about.
We crossed paths for the umpteen time in our lives and this time we were both working at the same company – NV GEBE.
As I visited him in the SMMC for the last time it dawned on me that it would be our last conversation.
Today I have to say good-bye to a class mate, school mate and an NV GEBE colleague. Mr. William Books, rest in peace my brother until we meet again … So we may continue our discussions we started long ago.
Antonio Brown
