‘People’s Man’ stood up for my mom who ‘was not from here’- Hon Maduro-Caines
Hon Maduro-Caines was also one of the first to take to social media to extend her condolences to the family and friends of the late Mr Hodge, who passed away on December 20, 2017 at age 75.
Mr Hodge, who was affectionately known as the 'People's Man', was the third longest serving member of the Parliament, 1979-2011. He lost his Sixth District seat in the 2011 elections to Honourable Maduro-Caines after 32 years of continuous service there.
"I know him from a little girl growing up because he and my mom were best friends. She cooked for him in his younger days and did his clothes, so we always had a close relationship with him," Hon Maduro-Caines, who is currently acting as Minister for Education and Culture, told the host of the online radio show Fresh Radio Vybz, Paul A. Peart aka 'Gadiethz', on January 2, 2018.
The late Mr Hodge, a member of the Opposition Virgin Islands Party (VIP), was at the side of both former Chief Minister H. Lavity Stoutt and first Premier Hon Ralph T. O’Neal OBE during the early development of the Territory. Having been first elected in November 1979 he was a champion of the rights of Caribbean people, including those from the Dominican Republic, and for children born in the Virgin Islands whose status was unclear after the United Kingdom's British Nationality Act.
He stood up for my mom
According to Hon Maduro-Caines, the late Mr Hodge would come to her mother's side whenever she (mother) was being discriminated against because she was not from the Virgin Islands.
"He stood up for my mom, being somebody not from here. She took a lot of bashing in her younger days when she came here [and] got married to my father, and it was always a tug-o-war of she is an island woman and he would always be there to stand up for her rights and for us while we were growing up."
Hon Maduro-Caines said she really appreciated the late legislator for what he did for her mother.
"And on the political side, for the stance he took for laws and for different people is something you cannot really forget," Hon Maduro-Caines stated.
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