On October 27, 2006, St. Vincent & the Grenadines celebrated 27 years of independence. This is also a good time to reflect on the memory of people who had their beginnings in St. Vincent and went on be productive adults and a credit to St. Vincent & the Grenadines. In this vein, I would like to mention the late Orde Coombs who passed away on August 27th, 1984. Orde was born in St. Vincent & the Grenadines in 1939. He went to the St. Vincent Grammar School. Recently, with the passing of Dr. Errol Gladstone King on August 13, 2006, a picture of the Sixth Forms of the Boys' Grammar School as it was called then, in 1958, has been making the rounds on the internet, again.
The picture can be found at the URL listed below.
The photo which was taken on the steps of the "Old" Boys Grammar School shows:
Back Row: Errol G King, Roy Austin, Noel (Shines) King, Ardon Bess, Winty Roberts, Lennox John.
Front Row: Ramon (Rayie) Marks, Baldwin A. King, Orde Coombs, Castine Quashie, Michael Joshua.
Orde went on to Yale University where he received a Bachelor's degree in 1965. In 1971 he received a Master's degree from New York University.
Orde became an associate editor for Doubleday & Company and worked as a senior editor for McCall Publishing Company from 1969 to 1971, both in New York. It was with a sense of pride and admiration that many Vincentians, especially young Vincentians, in New York in the 60's followed Orde's progress. He was an adjunct professor at New York University and he edited and produced documentaries dealing with Caribbean culture. In 1975 he co-hosted a talk show in New York for WPIX-TV called, "Black Conversations." When that show was on, many of us called each other on the phones to say, "Orde is on Channel 11, look at that channel." Orde edited two anthologies published by Dodd, Mead, We Speak as Liberators: Young Black Poets (1970) and What We Must See: Young Black Storytellers (1971). In 1974 he edited Is Massa Day Dead? Black Moods in the Caribbean (1974) published by Doubleday. He wrote: Do You See My Love for You Growing? (1972), Drums of Life (1974, with Chester Higgins, Jr.),Sleep Late With Your Dreams (1977), and Some Time Ago, A Historical Portrait of Black Americans from 1850-1950 (1980, with Chester Higgins, Jr.) My research shows that Orde was a contributing editor to and even once made the cover of New York magazine.
Given the climate of race relations at the time it is nothing short of remarkable that Orde was able to accomplish so much in his life-time.
Happy 27th independence anniversary to St. Vincent and the Grenadines from the Kings. May you continue to produce productive sons and daughters. We love you.
God bless,
Cheryl Phills King.
