Maxwell remembered as crusader, friend, father, teacher

Maxwell hailed as great human being

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Senior staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

HE spent over five decades fighting unpopular battles, stepping on countless toes in his quest for truth and in defence of right. He was rarely silent, having never met an argument he did not want to have.

But yesterday, it was time for those whom he had championed, moulded and walked with to speak; for veteran journalist John Maxwell — fearless crusader that few people in his world was ready for — was silent.

The farewell service at the historic chapel at the University of the West Indies, Mona marked the end of an era, the final curtain call for the man viewed by many as the rebel for a cause who died on December 10 after battling lung cancer.

In a memorial service that was as eclectic as the man — highly classical one moment and deeply folksy the next with performances by the Charles Town Maroon drummers and singers — persons from all spheres tried to cram a lifetime of achievements into three hours, which were hopelessly inadequate to explore the full measure of the stout-hearted crusader, friend, father, lover, teacher. One by one they came, the most eloquent waxing verbose, trying to capture "a perfect contradiction".

There was Maxwell the family man. In a highly emotional tribute, Leah Gold, Maxwell's eldest daughter, shared with the world a side of the man some never knew.

"I am John's daughter. My soul is a storm today. He was an acquired taste, peppery, savoury and sweet at the same time like his cooking," she said.

"I take after him in a great many ways. Like him, I have never met an argument I didn't want to have. I have a love for mischief and I have a love for words," she said of the man who "had a talent for stirring things up".

Though her childhood memories were somewhat overshadowed by the trauma of her parents' divorce, Maxwell's eldest still "would not trade"; her only regret being not having more time with the man who fathered her.

"He was open-hearted and very free-spirited. If he was any more open-minded some would think his brain had fallen out, and there were those who think it had," she quipped to laughter.

Then Maxwell's youngest Katy took to the podium, but only for a moment, unable to win the war of emotions.

"...I could have listened to his voice all night. He's always in my heart. I love you daddy," she said before rushing into the arms of her family.

For a moment it was deja vu when Maxi, John's youngest brother, stood to speak. It was all there in the striking resemblance to the beloved face on the portraits gracing the chapel. It was even there in the deep, deliberate voice, uncannily alike.

"I knew one side of John more than all sides. John gave me orders and tried to control my life; John taught me how to read and in the process gave me a lifelong love for the English language," he recalled in a tribute laced with humorous memories of his gutsy big brother who, much like "a general commanded his words, marshalled his ideas into paragraphs like faithful men and sent them into battle".

Maxwell's wife Marjan, who sat with the stillness of a birdwatcher throughout most of the ceremony, was at times moved to laughter and silent tears as tributes for the man who had been her "harbour" for some 20 years flowed.

There was Maxwell the environmental journalist who fought and won battles for botanical gardens and watershed areas, beaches and Jamaica's famed Cockpit Country. In the words of Lloyd D'Aguilar, fellow environmental journalist, "John threw all his might into resisting plans to mine the Cockpit Country for bauxite... using his mighty pen to castigate those behind the scenes".

Cynthia Miller, environmental activist, reminisced on behalf of the people of Winnifred Beach, the last public beach in Portland, which had almost fallen into the hands of developers but for Maxwell's staunch defence.

"Like a father he stood up for us, he never said no. He always said to us, 'be strong'. I miss a father, a loving friend, everything. I will never forget Mr Maxwell. A man of power," she said.

"We were so lucky to have a lion on our side. We miss your jokes. Dear John, we are not going to give up," she added.

His battles, though, were not confined to Jamaican soil. Neighbouring Haiti and Cuba were among those for whom he fought.

"We Cubans will ever remember and thank John. His loss is not only to family and friends but to Jamaica which he so well represented. Cuba will really miss you. In fact, Cuba is already missing you," Cuban Ambassador to Jamaica Yuri Gala said in hailing Maxwell whom he called "a great human being and outstanding journalist".

The loss of Maxwell to Haiti, of which he was also a committed advocate in the words of Myrtha Desulme, the head of the Haitian Jamaican Society in Kingston, was immense.

"He is missed most profoundly by the nation of Haiti, he was indeed ours. I never ceased to marvel at the fierceness of John's defence. John never missed an opportunity to stand in solidarity with and for Haiti. He never wavered, never backed down from an argument," she said, noting that it was doubly sorrowful to be mourning his death "at the time when Haiti needs him most".

"John would have raised his mighty voice in outrage. Surely Haiti had no more valuable international resource than John's mind. John was a living library, using his pen to speak. John is gone and the Caribbean is very much the poorer for it. You are now enshrined in the pantheon of Haiti's fallen heroes, among the ancestors who watch over us," she said poignantly.

Peter Abrahams shared his journey with John the journalist with wry humour, drawing appreciative chuckles and murmurs of assent from those who knew.

"I knew him first in 1955. I was on assignment and he was courting girls. There was something about Maxwell that was different from everybody else. He seemed more full of life, so bubbling and argumentative," he said of the man who was no "fluke".

"Maxwell was a human being with all the flaws of a human being. He made mistakes but always learned from them, and from my knowledge he never made the same mistake twice. He lost more jobs than any journalist I knew but he did what he had to do," he recalled.

"Maxwell cared about small things. He cared about the environment, this man cared about the land and what happened to the land. I am sorry to say, but both political administrations treated him very shabbily because of his preoccupation with the environment, but he licked his wounds and carried on," said Abrahams.

"I am very unhappy (at his death) but also very happy to celebrate the life of the brightest young man I ever knew. I don't think you ought to mourn for him... celebrate," he said, his words drawing the applauding mourners to their feet.

Many who missed the twinkle in his eye were fooled by the gruff exterior and ignorant to the fact that he had a heart that bled at injustice.

"The fact that he died on International Human Rights Day is absolutely fitting," said Dr Carolyn Gomes, executive director of human rights group Jamaicans For Justice.

"When I think of my friend John Maxwell one phrase defines him, speak truth to power," she said of the quality which also made him the most fired journalist in Jamaican history.

Nonetheless "John's voice and pen were always raised in defence of rights and justice and unpopularity, and being misunderstood were things John had long accepted and shrugged off as part of the price of speaking truth. He could not speak lies to his friends," she said.

Leader of the Opposition People's National Party Portia Simpson Miller, Maxwell's mentee, paid homage to the man she said was "ferociously loyal".

"He was the epitome of reasoning rooted in dialogue. He was the perfect contradiction, as fierce as fierce could be. He spent his life championing rights, believed firmly in ensuring that the poor were done right by, he taught us to be fearless, factual and fair," Simpson Miller said passionately.

And while there were some who might have come to terms with Maxwell's departure, for his friend of over 50 years Professor Aggrey Brown "to accept that he is no longer here is a painful and inconvenient truth". Brown, a former director of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication where Maxwell lectured, recalled a man who was deeply spiritual with a deep respect for life.

"Above all, John was committed to people. He was a walking encyclopaedia, intellectually inquisitive, and had such a large heart... losing him is a national wound we shall be suffering knowingly or unknowingly for a long time," Brown said.

Reverend Canon Ernle Gordon in his sermon lauded a man who "believed in Jamaica, had a healthy perception of himself and others and had an eternal understanding for creation and history".

"He was fantastic in delivering the language. He had a mind that was fantastic and he understood the environment very well," said Gordon.

"He was a brilliant journalist who was addicted to reading. John had a love for accuracy. You never left John's presence without being educated about something," he said, noting that it was difficult to say farewell to a person like Maxwell who has left his hand prints all over.

Maxwell's remains, which were cremated, are to be interred privately at a later date.

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Maxwell remembered as crusader, friend, father, teacher