Samuel Edward "Sticky" Brookes

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Funeral Program

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EULOGY - VERNON ALEXANDER

Most of us live average lives; we do very normal and predictable things. As I reflect on the life that Samuel Edward Brookes shared with us, I cannot judge if his life was normal or predictable. What I can say is that my friend Samuel, aka Sticky, lived it his way; or if I dare say, he lived the way that was ordained by God.

 

 

I first met Sticky at Saint Mary’s College where we both attended many years ago; it is beginning to feel like an eternity ago. While at SMC, apart from doing well academically, he was recognized as a very good athlete. During the annual inter house sports meets, you would always hear the name Samuel Brookes, especially for his performances in the sprints. He contributed many points to Rodney House with his grand tally of medals. In the 1964 SMC year book, in which his name is mentioned for his contribution to his team, Rodney house is reported as having had, and I quote, “the most successful year in recent times” unquote. For those who have a copy of that book, read page 34.

 

 

He won a silver medal as a member of the St. Lucia athletics team that participated in the WISA games in the sixties. Little did he know then, that one of his teammates in that meet, who also won a medal, would later become his wife. Yes, that was Brenda Lubin.

 

 

After SMC, he went on to the University of the West Indies, Mona campus in Jamaica.

At Mona, Sticky graduated in Geology. After doing post graduate work in Geology in Hungary, he returned to Jamaica and joined the Geological Survey Department in the Ministry of Mining as a Geologist. There he found an environment in which he quickly excelled; attaining the position of Deputy Director of the Geological Survey Department. A common theme that punctuate the reflections from his colleagues refers to his generosity, his willingness to help his junior colleagues, his readiness to share a joke and have a good laugh.

 

 

One of his supervisors, Arthur Geddes, expressed to me that Sticky was very fond of training new geologists assigned to him, and putting them through their orientation routines. He would take them out on field trips, traversing the rugged and difficult terrain of the Jamaican countryside at a brisk pace, often leaving them panting and struggling to keep up. At the end of the day he would ask “now, do you still want to be a geologist”? They would laugh about it and then he would say with his usual smile “let’s go and have a beer”.

 

 

To this day, Arthur reminded me, the geological field maps produced as a result of Sticky’s work continue to reside in the archives of the department. Several years later, he migrated to the United States with his family.

 

 

After meeting Samuel, some people may say he was a man of few words, yet the Sticky I knew, liked to have long conversations on a wide range of issues. One of the most telling and memorable features of his personality was his curiosity about new people he met. “What’s your name? Where are you from? Who is your family? He would ask. After receiving even the briefest of replies, he would then take over the conversation and begin to relate to the person his/her entire history. I often wondered how he acquired all that information about people. But, I eventually surmised, that he took pleasure in asking probing questions when conversing with people. He was inquisitive!

 

 

He was a very humble and generous person in his own way. This is evident in the stories you hear from people, who you would not think  knew Samuel. While travelling on the Cap Estate road almost daily, he often stopped to give the workers in the neighborhood a ride. During these journeys, he would strike up conversations with them, and by the time he said goodbye, he had a dossier of information about them and their life stories. And…. he would not forget the intricacies of these conversations when he stopped to offer them the next ride, usually to Gros Islet. His memory was something I always marveled at; because he could recall details of incidents and the history of people, friends and acquaintances I had not remembered or even thought about in decades. For example, with a smirk on his face, he once jolted my memory about an incident that I had not thought about for a long time; he reminisced: “Vernon, you remember that chick who brought a cake on campus for you during the Christmas holidays, and none of us wanted to eat it, not even you? “ No, he wouldn’t forget.

 

 

He was a true Caribbean man, and relished discussing everything Caribbean. Sticky was an avid reader; he kept abreast with events taking place in all parts of the region, reading information online; newspapers, documentaries and of course, he read all the local newspapers every weekend. Elections, political figures and West Indies cricket were always on his agenda, even while he was living in New York. He often had to search really hard to find live broadcasts or commentary of these events. He would be up late at nights following cricket, even when the West Indies team was not playing.

 

 

Sticky loved to cook; he was a master on the grill, and quite often when meals were prepared at his home, Brenda would concentrate on the side dishes, while he took care of the meats, or fish etc. I am told that his smoked pork was the best you would ever eat.  He always promised, but now he will not have the chance to teach his godson Amil how to cook this best pork.

 

 

We are frail as humans, we make mistakes, we ask for forgiveness and we forgive! I am sure Samuel was and did all of the above. The hallmark of the man Sticky was his love for his family, his parents and his brothers and sisters.  

 

 

He loved his wife Brenda, and felt that she was the most beautiful woman on the UWI campus at the time they were there. From the time he and Brenda committed themselves to a life of love and togetherness, he began the process of transformation to a family man.  He loved his children Shaka and Marissa.  He loved his granddaughter Shorey; she not only brought a sparkle to his eyes, but you could actually feel the love in his heart when he spoke about her. 

 

 

He is from a large family, and Brenda too is from a large family. He integrated easily into the Lubin family; they loved and embraced him, and he in turn loved and embraced them. Nothing was ever too much or too hard for him to do for his family.

 

 

A patient looked at his doctor as he was preparing to leave his examination room and said, “Doctor, I’m afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side?”

Very quietly he answered “I don’t know “.

You don’t know? You’re a Christian man, and don’t know what’s on the other side?

The doctor was holding the handle of the door; on the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, “Did you notice my dog? He’s never been in this room before. He didn’t know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.

I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I know one thing……

I know my master is there, and that is enough.

 

 

Samuel Edward Brookes, Sticky to many of us, of all the people in the world, you picked me as your friend. I wear that title of being your friend with honor and gratitude. It was wonderful having you in my life. Thank you for being my friend on this grand adventure we call life. You were a good man; you enriched us with your life among us, and your memory will live with us for a long time, and yes, we will always think of you with love in our hearts, and smiles on our faces. Sleep in perfect peace my friend, walk good, and enter the gate when it is opened, without fear!

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Samuel was predeceased by:

HIS PARENTS: Mr. Samuel Harvey Brookes, former Chief of Police of St. Lucia,and his wife Mrs. Christophene Sarah Brookes,and his sister Bernadine Brookes.

 

 

LEFT TO MOURN: His wife of 45 years, Brenda Brookes, neé Lubin, His daughter Marissa Brookes and her daughter Shorey, His son, Shaka Brookes

 

 

HIS SISTERS: Hyacinth Brookes and son Ricky, Gloria Yvonne Brookes, Ruth Williams, husband Noel Williams and sons Kwesi and Coltrane, Gertrude Hurst, husband Ercille Hurst and her children Kyra, Kareem and Janel, Hortensia Brookes, husband Patrick Mannix and her children Kélé and Zuri, and Althea Brookes and her children Sasha and Taebiti

 

 

HIS BROTHERS: Cecil Brookes, Harvey Brookes and son Jason, and David Brookes

 

 

HIS IN-LAWS: Esther, Junior, Lisa Stephen, and Andrea Roberts and family, Stephen “Sonny” Lubin, Karen Tostowaryk, Trevor, Ryan, and Jason Lubin, Athanasie “Baby”, Leroy , Judy and Jeanne Morgan, Rudy, May, Christopher and Richard Lubin, Justine, Christine Girard and family, Annie, Ricky and Leonard James and family, Annette and Tony Biscette, Winnie and Kalvin Lubin and family, Henry, Lucia, Marvin, Vladimir, Stacy Lubin and family, Aleth “Suzie” Lubin-Wilson, Chanel and Jarnickae Lubin and family, Sindiwe James Sealy, daughter of the late Lucy “Oleanda” Lubin, and Nico Sealy and family, Myrna Lubin, wife of the late Cuthbert Lubin and family, Children of the late Herbert “Chubs” Lubin, Stacy Blue Lubin and family.

 

 

FAMILY & FRIENDS: Vernon and Sonia Alexander and family, Seaton Campbell and family, Cornelius Nervais and family, Tedburt Theobalds and family, SMC Class of 1968, UWI, Mona, Class of 1975, The Brookes family of Nevis, The Lubin and Canaii families of Micoud, And his numerous friends in St. Lucia and overseas.