V.C. Bird:
Messenger of Hope

V.C. Bird's life is a story of a person who rose from poverty to success. It was a life built on the benefits of the Lord.

Much of what V.C. Bird Snr. learned was self-taught. He accumulated a small collection of books and read systematically into the small hours of the night, i.e., 2:00 a.m. to 3 a.m. This process went on well into his twenties. This habit expanded his geographic and historic horizons and resulted in a successful school life.

Persons who influenced him as a teenager were his beloved headmaster Mr. E.A. Stevens, Marcus Garvey and Toussaint L' overture the Liberator of Haiti and Biblical heroes. He reports that Mr. Stevens was a dynamic person who expected much of his students when they grew up. Mr. Stevens told them so in many ways and served as a role model for all the young men at the St. John's Boys School.

One of the benefits which the young men received from Mr. Stevens was the organising of their goals in life. On a few occasions he had his students write down their goals and aspirations in a list. This exercise imposed a sense of discipline, purpose and order in the lives of a poor and confused group of youngsters which helped to develop many "change agents," in Antigua and Barbuda.

Syndey Walling became an outstanding Cricketer and the Postmaster General of Antigua and Barbuda. He was a role model in the nation. Mr. Keithly Heath became a successful business person and outstanding leader in the state, and President of the Senate of Antigua and Barbuda. V.C. Bird Snr. became the first Chief Minister, the first Premier and the first Prime Minister--such is the power of "a list of goals." Such is the redemptive power of The Lord.

This was the inheritance which Mr. E.A. Stevens left behind him. He was a remarkable motivator and builder of oustanding citizens. He also had two children. One became a medical doctor and practised for decades in St. Croix (USVI). His sister became the headmistress in Antigua and Barbuda at Pigotts Primary School. She suffered from arthritis in life and founded "Miss Steven's School" on Newgate Street, after retiring from the government civil service. The Stevens were not only educators, but were very talented musicians. It was from Miss Steven's School that many outstanding singers and citizens were educated.

Here then is a small indication of the history of education in the state. It is the story of certain outstanding educators who founded schools. At least 85% of the educational system was in the hands of the historic churches. Dr. Lemuel Sealey has stated that in the 1920s and 1930s there was only one government owned primary school in Antigua and Barbuda. This was the school at Johnson Point, which in the 1990s became the Sunshine Home for Girls, owned and operated by The Salvation Army. For many years it had also served as a cultural centre on holidays until Urlings Primary School and Bolans Primary were built.