Former diplomat and CTO secretary general lauded during farewell service

President Dame Sandra Mason and Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley joined the family and friends of Dr Jean Holder, at the St George Parish Church on Friday, to bid farewell to the distinguished Barbadian who is credited for playing a major role in changing the course of Barbados’ and Caribbean tourism.

Tributes flowed for Holder, the first Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), who committed 30 years of his life to leading development and expansion of the region’s tourism sector, during its formative years. He died on January 25 2022.

Delivering the eulogy, Holder’s daughters Janet and Caroline remembered him as a supportive father and dedicated husband to wife Norma who died six years ago. They shared stories of living with their father in England where they were born and then eventually moving to Barbados in 1969 where they were educated, lived, and learned the culture of their father’s homeland.

Janet said her dad began his career in 1960 when he was recruited as a diplomat and was one of 15 persons selected to serve the now defunct Federation of the West Indies.

He was appointed second in command to the Eastern Caribbean Commission Office in London where he was responsible for looking after the welfare of immigrants and students moving from the Caribbean to England.

She also shared with the congregation that from 1968 her father headed the economic and policy division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Barbados and also worked closely with Father of Independence, Errol Barrow.

In 1974, Holder took up leadership of the Caribbean Tourism Research and Development Centre, which in 1989 joined with the Caribbean Tourism Association to form the present-day CTO. When he retired from the organisation Holder served as chairman of LIAT from 2003 until 2019.

Janet said the COVID-19 pandemic kept her from visiting her dad due to rescheduled and cancelled flights. She said unfortunately she was also unable to attend the naming ceremony of the Jean and Norma Holder Hospitality Institute which was arranged at relatively short notice.

“I managed three visits in 2021, the last of these to celebrate the republic and we seemed to have completed the circle from the first trip for Independence in which my dad was so actively involved. We jointly attended the inspirational multi-faith service together and celebrated afterwards with family and friends. We also have a wonderful circle of friends and they have been more like family.

“There is no good time to lose a parent. The challenge to us all is to live as good a life as he did, make the most of our educational opportunities, mentor and give back to others on a personal scale and if we are lucky, be gifted and visionary as he was to be able to give back to the country and the region,” Janet said.

Caroline described her father as a strict parent and disciplinarian who hated surprise events that caught him unaware with his feelings exposed. She said secretly, Holder was soft-hearted and quietly generous and showed his affection more in deed than words, and treasured the time he spent with loved ones.

“Dad, I miss you so much already. I miss our nightly phone calls and our jokes and our discussions on the outfits of television personalities. My biggest consolation is that you can now hang out with mummy after missing her for six long years,” Caroline said.

Rector of St George Parish Church, Reverend Senator Dr John Rogers, said the service was held not only to celebrate the life of a great Barbadian, but also Holder’s commitment to regionalism. Reverend Rogers said Holder pushed to ensure that descendants of slaves and the planter class can build great nations.

“Through his work with LIAT, he recognized that for a people long separated by geographical isolation of a plantation system there needed to be familiarity. We needed to tear down the barriers of xenophobia so that we could interact with each other in meaningful ways and build a type of community that is so necessary for us to build in this world at this time.

“Through his work at the CTO he would also have recognized that we have to work together as a region so that we may attain the economic viability to ensure that our people can exist in this region in peace and security with a good standard of living.

“That is what our brother poured his life’s work into. But he did not do that simply because it was the good thing to do, he did it because he had a deep faith in God. Our brother Jean loved the Lord. He worshiped faithfully in this church. I can see him sitting there on Sunday mornings as his beloved the vivacious Norma Holder sat at the organ bouncing and playing her tunes, he sat there delightfully,” Reverend Rogers said. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb