Remembrance day for Dr Williams

TODAY is the 24th anniversary of the death of the “Father of the Nation,” former Prime Minister Dr Eric Eustace Williams. Chairman of the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Committee, Reginald Vidale, is calling on Government to declare the first Saturday in April, as the Dr Eric Eustace Williams Remembrance Day. He said it would be a fitting tribute to the memory of a great leader, and a brilliant star of stars.

This year, to observe the anniversary of Dr Williams’ death, the committee will have a wreath laying ceremony at 10 am on Saturday, at the Heliport, Chaguaramas. It will be followed by the throwing of wreaths out at sea by members of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard. Following his death, several lecture series and a collection were set up in Dr Williams’ honour. The Central Bank is expected to host its annual Dr Eric Williams memorial lecture series in May. The main speaker at the event is usually an intellectual and expert in his/her chosen field. The lecture series was launched in 1983. A special lecture is also held at Florida International University, USA.

There is also the Eric Williams Memorial Collection at the Main Library of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, which was officially opened in March 1998. The collection comprises approximately 7,000 items and covers a wide range of disciplines, including philosophy, religion, history, economics, politics, education and music and art. Its emphasis, however, is on history, with a variety of published and unpublished works of Dr Williams, as well as correspondence and manuscripts. It depicts his early years, his family life, as well as the scholar that he was. The collection has been listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. Dr Williams died on March 29, 1981 having taken this country from a state of colonialism to Republic status. He was cremated on April 2, 1981.