Edward Baugh saluted as titan amid touching tributes

In a heartfelt farewell punctuated with humorous anecdotes on Monday, Maxine Wedderburn dubbed her late brother Professor Edward Alston Cecil Baugh a “giant of a man”.

It was a characterisation that aptly embraced an unspoken theme as tribute after glowing tribute painted a picture of a man who touched many lives during the thanksgiving service at The University Chapel at The University of the West Indies, Mona.

“With his many accomplishments,” Wedderburn said, “he became a public figure, a giant of a man, so much so that we, his siblings, were overshadowed and eclipsed by him and became known simply as ‘Eddie Baugh’s sisters’.”

This, she added, did not bother them as they were proud of him and were happy to have shared in celebration of his successes.

“When we were among the audience at any function being held in his honour, he never, never failed to publicly acknowledge our presence,” Wedderburn said.

Baugh died on December 10 at age 87 and is survived by his widow Sheila and their daughters Sarah Cole and Catherine Baugh. He was a grandfather, an uncle, and the eldest of five children.

At Monday’s service, he was hailed as a devoted and committed family man.

Wedderburn pointed out that his 56-year marriage to Sheila made this even more clear and that they used the same term of endearment, ‘B’, which meant ‘best beloved’.

“His love of family and compassion were evidenced when our brother Norman, who followed him (in age), laid in his deathbed at home,” she said, detailing that Baugh got in the bed beside his dying sibling “to offer solace and comfort”.

“He was indeed caring and patient,” she said.

Baugh had also established a practice of checking on his sisters every Sunday between 11 a.m. and noon and would subsequently become known as the siblings’ ‘Sunday visitor’, Wedderburn said, adding, “the car was going to come, [and] he was always there, whether he was in a talkative mood or not”.

“Another hallmark of his was his humility. In spite of his numerous accolades and accomplishments, he never wore any of this on his sleeve,” she commended.

A SPECIAL PERSON

Professor Lascelles Anderson, professor emeritus of educational policy at University of Illinois at Chicago, shared that his friend of nearly eight decades was a “special person”, one who “was so the day we met and remained so for his entire life”.

In a written statement, he recalled that they would recite the poem Death, Be Not Proud by John Donne together in high school, adding that “its theme that death cannot corrupt the eternal soul is apropos today, for we are sure that Eddie’s legacy and indelible contribution to the field of literature and culture will survive long after his mortal remains shall have returned to the dust from which it came”.

For over 35 years, Baugh served as an academic at The University of the West Indies, assuming several positions. The English professor emeritus wore the hats of teacher, actor, critic, scholar, poet, and educator.

He first became affiliated with The UWI in 1965, while working at the Cave Hill campus in Barbados, spending three years before returning to his native Jamaica to work at the Mona campus.

He also held the positions of public orator, vice-dean, dean of the Faculty of Arts and General Studies, and head of the Department of English during his time there.

At the age of nine, Baugh enrolled at Titchfield High School in Portland, where he started writing poetry. He attended the school between January 1945 and December 1952.

WELL-ROUNDED AND INVOLVED

In 1953, he won an exhibition scholarship to study English literature at the then University College of the West Indies (now The University of the West Indies) and later did postgraduate studies at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada, and at the University of Manchester, where he earned a PhD in 1964.

“But Eddie was no mere bookworm. He served as prefect and [as] a member of the school’s cadet corps. I can see him now in his cadet uniform as they were on parade at the annual Memorial Day march past at the cenotaph in Port Antonio,” shared Justice Roy Anderson on behalf of the Titchfield and Portland community in a written statement.

“He was also valuable member of the school’s rifle shooting team, which competed for the prestigious Henriques Shield ... ,” Anderson continued.

“We simply remember the young boy from Port Antonio who has made every Portlander and indeed every Jamaican proud to be identified by that description – Portlander,” he said.

Anderson further stated that Baugh “epitomised every virtue of the beautiful parish from which he sprang”, adding that he was a very calm, kind and gentle man – “a man of dignity and humility which made him walk among kings, yet never lose the common touch”.

Among Baugh’s many honours are the Order of Distinction, the Institute of Jamaica Gold Musgrave Medal, the UWI Guild of Graduates’ Pelican Award, the UWI Vice-Chancellor Award for Excellence in Teaching and Administration, and the Institute of Jamaica Silver Musgrave Medal.

Delivering the eulogy, Professor Michael Bucknor said Baugh was “a giant of Caribbean literature”.

The former head of the Department of Literatures in English and campus orator at UWI, Mona expressed that Baugh’s “impassioned and stimulating classes have inspired numerous students across the world”, fostering a love for literature across the diaspora.

“He was my intellectual North, South, East, and West, a father figure and a friend,” Bucknor said, momentarily overcome with emotion, noting that he would miss Baugh dearly

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com