TRIBUTE BY THE
RT. HON. PERRY G. CHRISTIE
LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
TO THE MEMORY OF
THE LATE
JOSEPH RUSSELL FORD
AT THE
OFFICIAL FUNERAL SERVICES
AT
CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL
25th JANUARY, 2008 AT 2.00 P.M.

“T-Joe” Ford would have smiled if I begin this address by paraphrasing some of his favourite words: “I approach this task with great alarm and trepidation on this auspicious and momentous occasion.” These were usually his opening words when he rose to his feet in the Honourable House of Assembly or on some other great public occasion.  T-Joe Ford was a man who loved words, especially big words.

We are gathered today to mourn the passing of an outstanding son of the Bahamian soil.  But though we mourn his passing, we are also here to celebrate his life - a life of sacrifice and of service, a life of courage and of high accomplishment, a life that was heroic and praiseworthy in so many diverse ways.

“T. Joe” Ford hailed from a generation that is, sad to say, fast thinning out. Indeed, in the space of just one week, we have lost two of the frontline fighters in the Peaceful Revolution.  First, Curtis McMillan, and now, Joseph Ford.

It is always an occasion for special national sadness when we lose citizens from this particular generation because it was a generation that made its mark upon our society, and upon our history, unlike any other generation, before or since.

It was a generation that came fully into its own in the great and glorious times of the 1960’s.  It was in that period – perhaps the most formative period in all of Bahamian history - that there came to the fore a “mighty band of brothers”, proclaiming the ideals of freedom and justice and struggling, side by side with each other, for a better Bahamas.

T. Joe Ford was a member of that mighty band of brothers – tough, tenacious, passionate, full of high principles and noble ideals.  He was a man with a mission, a man with a cause.  And he was unflinching and unwavering in his pursuit of that mission and in his commitment to that cause.

It is good for us to remind ourselves that the age of which I speak was a bright, new age of idealism.  And in that age, there were few more idealistic and forward-looking than the man who hailed from the most southerly extreme of the Bahamian archipelagic chain.  Great Inagua was the name of that place and the man who stepped forth from the township of Matthew Town onto the national stage bore the name Joseph Russell Ford – or “T. Joe” as he was affectionately known to all of us.

I thank God, as we all should, for the fortitude and vision and yes, for the imagination and courageous sense of adventure that inspired men like T. Joe Ford and his colleagues in the struggle for Majority Rule.

We can never repay them enough.  All Bahamians shall forever be in their debt.

In the age of cynicism in which we now live, it has become so difficult to wrap our minds around the historical truth that in the great struggle for Majority Rule, those, like T. Joe Ford, who stepped forth to fight for justice and for freedom were motivated not by anything selfish or base but rather by a true and invincible patriotism that sadly seems so rare in our country today.

T. Joe, however, was such a man. And he was an exemplar of the patriotic spirit of which I speak.   His love for his country was as uncompromising as it was boundless.  He put his love for country before party and he put it way before self.  He was a nationalist to the core and made no apologies for it.

T. Joe believed in The Bahamas.  He believed E in its people.  And he served them well, none more ably or as well as the good people of Inagua and Mayaguana who found in T. Joe a courageous and resourceful warrior on their behalf, and their loyal and devoted representative in Parliament for well nigh fifteen years.

T. Joe served his people in so many important ways.

In the sphere of industrial relations, he is justly credited with putting the “one company town” of Matthew Town, Inagua on a modern footing by ensuring the fair and equitable treatment of successive generations of workers at Morton Salt.  His advocacy on behalf of the work force and, ultimately, his prowess in face-to-face negotiations with the company’s owners in Chicago ensured the attainment of a just and lasting result.

But even more than that, T. Joe went further, campaigning tirelessly for labour legislation that would permanently enshrine for the benefit of the labouring masses throughout our country the very things he had successfully fought for at Inagua.  The Fair Labour Standards Act of 1971 bore testimony to T. Joe’s efforts in that behalf.

In the sphere of telecommunications, T. Joe was also a trailblazer and high achiever.  As Executive Chairman of BATELCO, he presided over a period of unprecedented expansion of the telecommunications infrastructure in our country.  He was a non-nonsense Chairman who knew how to motivate people to get the job done.  His successes in this role were impressive indeed.

It was an especially signal honour for him and for The Bahamas when he was elected to the executive board of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Union, the very first Bahamian in history to be so elevated to the leadership councils of this important and prestigious body.

In his private working life – especially in the sphere of insurance - T. Joe also excelled, earning for himself and his family not only a good living but, of infinitely greater consequence, a sterling reputation for reliability and integrity.

A good reputation, a reputation for honesty, makes a man so much richer than gold and silver ever could, and T. Joe Ford possessed such a reputation throughout his professional life in the insurance industry, indeed in all spheres of his life, both public and private.  Although he secured entry into that coveted group called “the Million Dollar Roundtable”, T. Joe was, I am sure, even more proud of the fact that he had earned the professional admiration of his colleagues, and the respect and affection of his many clients throughout The Bahamas, for his integrity, his reliability, his proven ability, and his leadership-by-example.

T-Joe Ford was of a generation who wanted to work forever.  In fact for him, life’s continuance was associated with work I recalled that he came to me on two occasions leading up to his retirement from Colina Imperial to ask me to intercede with the authorities at that corporate entity to ensure that he would be able to retain his office space.  He was concerned that he would be active to the end.

Joseph Ford was also a fine family man, devoted to his wife and children.  It bears noting for those who may not be as familiar with her antecedents as they should be, that T. Joe’s widow, the former Thelma Gomez, hails from one of our nation’s finest and most diversely accomplished families.

I first met Mrs. Thelma Ford some forty odd years ago having been told that Nurse Myrtle Gomez who was a classmate of mine would be attending my university on a special course.  I have shared a friendly relationship with her and the other siblings of Rubin and Wealthy Gomez since that time. Indeed Thelma’s own life has been no exception to the paradigm of outstanding achievement for which the Gomez family is so justly noted.  As an educator, she has been a role model for so many.

T. Joe knew the gem he had in Thelma. And together they forged and sustained a loving union that endured in strength to the end of T. Joe’s life.  Here let me make mention that the Ford’s were noted for their hospitality.  Joseph Ford loved the game of tennis and had a tennis court built at his residence and this facility became the focal point of many a social gatherings for many and all.

Joseph Ford always wanted to be presented in the best light and in addition to his gift of language; he was noted for his sartorial elegance. He was always smartly dressed.

And so we come here to mark the end of T. Joe’s earthly sojourn and, in so doing, we pause to reflect upon how he impacted our lives and the lives of our nation through the many good and heroic works that he performed, and the good and heroic example that he set for others to follow.

But there is something that troubles me about these occasions when we lay to rest the giants of an earlier time.  And I can best express the way I feel by recalling the words I uttered in this very same Cathedral not that long ago when many of us were gathered to bid our final farewells to another great Bahamian.  What I said then is no less applicable to T. Joe Ford.  And what I said then – and commend to you now - was this:

 “I am reminded how shamefully delinquent we have been in honouring the old lions among us.  Maybe it’s just human nature, I don’t know.  Time marches on and we march on with it.  And in marching on, we tend to forget the great fighters who led us victoriously in earlier battles but who, because of the ravages of illness and of age, we have all too often left behind.   Long before they die, they become but dim and distant memories that stir within us only when a name is called or an event remembered.

“I do not need to remind you that this is a subject upon which I express myself passionately and regularly because I feel that as a people we too seldom take the time to honour our heroes.

“And by honouring them, let me be clear about what I mean: I don’t mean giving them flowers that will fade with the sunset, or presenting them with medals or plaques that will soon turn black from tarnish.

“No!  We honour our heroes in the only way that really matters: by telling their stories! We honour them by taking the time to learn their stories and by passing on what we learn to our children so that they, in their own time, can pass the stories on to their own offspring as part of their cultural inheritance”.

Let us therefore resolve to honour T. Joe’s memory and to give thanks for his life by ensuring that his many important and heroic exploits on behalf of the Bahamian people – especially the people of Inagua and Mayaguana - are memorialized.   Only in this way can future generations come to know that Joseph Russell Ford is deserving of a place of honour and special remembrance among that “mighty band of brothers” that fought to make us a free.

On behalf of the Progressive Liberal Party, on behalf of my wife and family, and on my own behalf, I should like to extend my deepest condolences to Thelma and to T. Joe’s children, and the entire Ford and Gomez families.

Another heroic figure of the Peaceful Revolution has now passed on.  We mourn his passing but we celebrate his life and give thanks for his life and for the great good he did.

May the soul of this outstanding Bahamian rest in peace.