Today saw a small gathering of about 80 of Clyde Jones closest friends and some Family members at the St Mary’s Church in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Clyde died on April 3, 2021 after a prolonged illness and Hospitalization in New York. Glowing tributes were paid to him over the month and a half following the news of his death.
After the Church Service he was taken to the Military Cemetery for internment.
I was given permission to reproduce the Eulogy sent to me from Mrs. Katherine Dyall-Holder the eldest daughter of his only sister .
GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYONE
I’M, CLYDE JONES NIECE, THE ELDEST DAUGHTER OF HIS ONLY SISTER
AND I HAVE BEEN NOMINATED TO SPEAK TO YOU ABOUT THE MAN AND HIS CAMERA.
MY SISTERS SAY IM UNCLE CLYDE’S FAVOURITE NIECE BUT HE HAD NO
FAVOURITE…. DON’T MIND THEM. I’M HERE BECAUSE I’M THE ELDEST ONE HERE.
UNCLE CLYDE OR UNCLE JONES AS HE WAS AFFECTIONATELY CALLED BY
US, OUR FRIENDS AND HIS FRIENDS CHILDREN, WAS BORN IN CUBA IN 1931 TO BARBADIAN PARENTS. HE CAME TO BARBADOS AS A SMALL CHILD WITH HIS FOUR SIBLINGS VON, NIKINOR, OSCAR AND OLGA (MY MUM), WHO ARE UNFORTUNATELY ALL DECEASED. HE GREW UP IN POWDER ROAD, STATION HILL BEFORE MIGRATING TO THE USA AND MARRYING THELMA JONES. I’M NOT GOING TO SPEAK OF UNCLE CLYDE THE CELEBRITY PHOTO JOURNALIST BECAUSE TO US HE WAS JUST UNCLE CLYDE.
MY EARLIEST MEMORIES OF UNCLE CLYDE WAS OF HIM COMING BACK
FROM THE USA AND BRINGING THE PRETTIEST OF DRESSES FOR MY SISTER CLAIRE AND I. WE WERE THE BEST DRESSED KIDS IN POWDER ROAD AND WE FELT REAL SPECIAL BECAUSE OUR CLOTHES CAME FROM OVERSEAS. HE WOULD FEEL EXTREMELY PROUD TO SEE US IN THE CLOTHES HE BROUGHT ALTHOUGH WE SECRETLY KNEW THAT WAS AUNTY THELMAS’S DOING BUT OF COURSE HE TOOK THE CREDIT AND GOT THE PRAISE FOR IT ANY WAY. UNCLE CLYDE NEVER CAME TO BARBADOS WITHOUT A VISIT TO MY MOTHER AND US AND IT WAS ALWAYS A SURPRISE VISIT BECAUSE YOU NEVER KNEW WHEN HE WAS COMING OR WHEN HE WAS LEAVING AND YOU DARE NOT ASK. I MADE THAT MISTAKE ONCE AND WAS ASKED, “ARE YOU IMMIGRATION?” AND DON’T QUESTION HIM TOO MUCH ON A SUBJECT HE DID NOT WANT TO DISCUSS, IT WOULD BE MET WITH “ARE YOU THE POLICE?”
UNCLE CLYDE WORE MANY HATS THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE AND VENTURED
THROUGH VARIOUS CAREER OPTIONS AS A YOUNG MAN….HE WAS A TAILOR, SOLDIER AND PRISON OFFICER, HOWEVER, IT WAS AN OPPORTUNITY HE RECEIVED TO WORK AS AN AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHER AT HIGH ALTITUDE RESEARCH PROJECT THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE AND CHARTERED THE PATH OF THE RENOWNED PHOTOJOURNALIST THAT MANY OF YOU KNOW TODAY. HIS WORK CAPTURES MORE THAN HALF OF A CENTURY OF BARBADIAN LIFE AND ITS PEOPLE BOTH IN BARBADOS AND THE DIASPORA. HE WAS ALWAYS PROUD TO INFORM YOU THAT HE CAPTURED PHOTOS OF THE QUEEN, PRIME MINISTERS,
CONSUL GENERALS, AND RIHANNA. UNCLE CLYDE EARNED MANY AWARDS FOR HIS WORK AND IF ANYONE CALLED TO SAY….. CLYDE I NEED YOU TO BE AT THIS EVENT……YOU DID NOT HAVE TO ASK TWICE, HE WOULD BE GONE JUST AS FAST AS HE CAME. UNCLE CLYDE WAS WHAT YOU CALL A REALLLL BAJAN AND WAS ABSOLUTELY UNAPOLOGETIC ABOUT IT. HE LOVED OISTINS, HE ATE FLYING FISH, HE CELEBRATED INDEPENDENCE NO MATTER WHERE HE WAS IN THE WORLD, HE DID NOT MISS AN EVENT THAT CELEBRATED BARBADOS OR BARBADIAN CULTURE……. FURTHERMORE I REMEMBER UNCLE CLYDE INFORMING ME THAT HE HAD TO BE AT THE INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS IN
NEW YORK BECAUSE THE DANCE FLOOR WOULD NOT BE THE SAME WITHOUT HIM…..HE SAID TO ME I AM A DANCER YOU KNOW…..YOU DON’T KNOW?………WELL IF YOU DIDN’T KNOW, I’M TELLING YOU NOW! HE LOVED HORSE RACING AND HE LOVED CROP OVER…….. AS A MATTER OF FACT I BELIEVE THE ONLY CROP OVER HE MISSED WAS 2019 WHEN HE FIRST FELL ILL.
UNCLE CLYDE GAVE ME AWAY AT MY WEDDING AND I WAS PROUD TO
HAVE HIM BY MY SIDE. HE DID NOT PLAY OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHER THEN HE WAS MY UNCLE CLYDE AND HIS CHEEKS PROBABLY HURT HIM THE NEXT DAY BECAUSE HE HAD HIS BIG FAMOUS GRIN ON HIS FACE THE WHOLE TIME. YOU COULD TELL HE WAS PROUD TO BE THERE. WE DANCED AND HE SHOWED OFF ON ME. THAT’S WHEN HE ASKED “YOU THINK I OLD?” QUITE A DANCER HE WAS.
THE LAST MEMORABLE VISIT TO BARBADOS BEFORE HE TOOK ILL, MY
COUSIN FROM SWEDEN WAS HERE AND HE TOOK HER AND HER SONS AROUND THE ISLAND. HE WAS SO PROUD OF AND THOSE PICTURES SHOWED A MAN NOT HIS AGE, BUT A STRONG, VIBRANT AND INVINCIBLE MAN …..WITH HIS BROAD SMILE AS USUAL. A FEW WEEKS LATER, I SAW HIM IN NEW YORK FULL OF TUBES AND NOT CONSCIOUS. IT BROKE MY HEART BECAUSE LIKE HIM I TOO THOUGHT HE WAS INVINCIBLE. HE WAS OLD EVEN IF HE DIDN’T THINK SO AND WE KNEW WE WOULD HAVE LOST HIM SOMEDAY BUT IT WAS STILL UNEXPECTED. THE LAST OF THAT GENERATION OF JONES.
HE PULLED THROUGH THAT EPISODE BUT HE NEVER REALLY RECOVERED
FROM THAT AND ALTHOUGH I HAVE THAT MEMORY I’M GLAD IT WAS NOT MY MOST MEMORABLE.
OUR FAMILY HAS HEARD MANY OF YOUR TRIBUTES: MACKIE HOLDER
B’DOS CONSUL GENERAL DESCRIBED HIM AS AN “IRREPRESSIBLE PILLAR OF THE BARBADOS COMMUNITY, NOEL LYNCH BDOS DIPLOMAT IN WASHINGTON SAID HE WAS KNOWN FOR HIS HIGH-QUALITY PHOTOGRAPHY AND ENTHUSIASTIC INTEREST IN EVERY ASPECT OF BARBADOS DEVELOPMENT AND AMBASSADOR LIZ THOMPSON SAID HE BROUGHT THE IMAGES OF BAJANS ABROAD TO THE HOMES OF RELATIVES SO THE COULD SEE THEM IN THE DIASPORA. ALONG WITH OTHER TRIBUTES THAT WE VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
A BIRTH CERTIFICATE SHOWS YOU WERE BORN, A DEATH CERTIFICATE
SHOWS YOU HAVE DIED BUT PHOTOGRAPHS SHOW YOU HAVE LIVED… AND UNCLE CLYDE HAS TAKEN ENOUGH PHOTOS IN HIS LIFE TO DOCUMENT THAT HE HAS LIVED A FULL AND EXCITING LIFE.
WE WILL MISS YOU UNCLE CLYDE
— My thanks to Katherine for the written Eulogy.
View an assortment of pictures taken at the Funeral……
PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO VIEW YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE FUNERAL ……
