Hon O'Neal pushed education as 'foundation of our resiliency' - Gov Albert Bryan Jr
"Every child in what we called the Greater Virgin Islands, whether the US or the British Virgin Islands, is raised in the centre of the community with an eye on politics and a heart of purpose. It is not an accident that this happens, it is because of a long tradition of leaders that have come before us," he told those gathered in the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex for the official state funeral of Hon O'Neal yesterday, December 11, 2019.
Born in a time of change
In extending condolences to the family and the entire Virgin Islands, Governor Bryan said throughout his life Hon O'Neal "stoked the flame that would continue to kindle in all that followed this great great instinct, today we say goodbye to a brother, a friend, a husband, a father, a statesman, a true son of the soil."
According to Governor Bryan, the Virgin Islands is now closing in on an era of visionaries of which Hon O'neal was one. "He was born of a time of great change and was armed with the passion and the courage... to bring about great change for his people and great change for the British Virgin Islands."
He recalled that he often contemplate the great tribulations of the men and women who faced mountains of challenges to make today better, in comparison to the challenges of today.
"I contemplate the understanding that he had as an economist and an educator, that essentially education is the foundation of our resiliency, that no matter how hard the wind blows and what roofs it may topple, that the education of our people is the foundation of the true resiliency that makes us strong and able to compete in a global climate."
Well deserved rest
Gov Bryan pointed to the infrastructure of the islands as well as its educational institutions and the inroads made in tourism as signs that the Virgin Islands is truly pushing forward.
"I thought to myself, that the Hon Ralph T. O'Neal must be smiling down from heaven for the works that you as a people and he have accomplished."
Recalling moments of meeting the great legislator and realising that Hon O'Neal was indeed a great man, Governor Bryan noted: "This rest is well deserved, as he toiled hard for the people of the British Virgin Islands."
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HON. RALPH T. ONEAL
Member Emeritus, OBE
A Requiem, Written for This Day, For This Hour, And That Hour They Inter Him
By Tafari Zharr.
[Breathe In]
Oh, Virgin Islanders
His Days Were Numbered
Thirty-One Thousand, Three Hundred Seventy- Seven (31,377)
And You Held on To Him Thirty Days More
Monday Till Wednesday
Picture-Perfect, Statesman, Procession:
Showered with Adulation Three (3) Days
Before They’d Later [Privately] Inter Him
Jack, It’s Hard to Believe RTO Is Gone
Oh, Virgin Islanders
Oh, It’s Up to You Now
Left to Be Seen What You’ll Do
With What He Advanced
Oh, Of Freedoms Be Neither Sleep nor Still
Oh, Great Man, Groomed to Become More Than an Island
Oh, Whose Days Are No Longer, And Nights Are No More
Oh, Whose Profound Legacy—Virgin Islanders: Simply
He Did It, Get Up, Go, and Grow
Oh, Virgin Islanders
Oh, Approbations: Left by Him for You
A Great Blue Print Of Life
Oh, For His Period, Strong, Reconstruction Efforts, Sing Sweeter, Newer, Lullabies
Oh, For His Hopes of Economic Equity and Security
Be Neither Blind nor Distilled
Oh, For Our Stability and Preservation Make Homes
Not Houses, Polished, High on Hills
Oh, Virgin Islanders
Oh, For His Ambitions Traded for Yours
Oh, For Her Hopes Prorogued for Yours
Oh, For Their Futures Deferred for Yours
Oh, For His Promises Fragmented for Yours
Oh, Virgin Islanders
His Love Has Been Your Affairs
Oh, For His Aberration for Virgin Gorda
Oh, For A Romanticism with Tortola
Oh, For A Proclivity for Anegada
Oh, For His Political Life, A Sac-ri-fice?
Oh, Virgin Islanders,
Oh, But for His Earlier Excitement in The Vicinage
You Might Never
You Might Never Have
You Might Never Have Had
Your Treasured, Highly Acclaimed, and Colossal Rising Son!
[Repeat: Breathe In, hold it, Breathe Out].
Oh, Virgin Islanders
His Days Were Numbered:
Thirty-One Thousand, Three Hundred Seventy-Seven (31,377)
And You Held on To Him Thirty (30) Days More
Monday Till Wednesday
Picture-Perfect, Statesman, Procession:
Showered with Adulation Three (3) Days
Before They’d Later [Privately] Inter Him
Jack, It’s Hard to Believe RTO Is Gone
And Alongside Him Came the Turtle Dove Inviting Him Home
[Breathe Out]:
May the Honorable Ralph Tedford O’Neal, OBE, Member Emeritus, Rest in Peace,
My Condolences on the Passing of Your Father, and Husband, You Are All in My Heart and Mind and in those of the People of The Virgin Islands.
All Right Reserved. Copyright © 2019. Tafari Zharr.