…Herman Austin and his love for Leguan Island
HERMAN Austin has been enjoying life on the island of Leguan for the past 81 years. There is hardly anything that he’d choose to do differently in his life; or anywhere that he’d rather be.
When he visits Georgetown on occasions, to spend time with his children and grandchildren, he wouldn’t even last a good two weeks before wanting to head home to his beloved island.
Austin, a retired revenue officer, was born and raised at Lot 9 Louisiana Village and at age 21, married Lynette Austin, now 78 years old. During their 61 years of marriage, they raised six children; three boys and three girls. As for his grandchildren, he said they were too many for him to count on the spot.
He left the Success Government School at age 16 and went to work for a bit in an interior location. One year after he returned to the island at age 20, he got married. He did whatever jobs he could pick up to make ends meet, including provision and rice farming. However, fortunate for him, he landed a job at the Revenue Office and remained there for some 35 years.
When he began his married life, there was no one quite like him. “When I was 20… in those days, life was real nice. I could have spent $1,200 to mind my whole family. Now, you can’t spend that; you have to spend about $200,000,” he joked, adding, “It was sheer rice work man; but life on the island was sweet though you know.”
Reflecting on how he met his wife, he said: “Going to sport and sport, and I meet my wife. One year after meeting her, we got married. It wasn’t hard for me to get her; it was very, very easy. I was a sport man and I was a real dancer too.”
Attempting to toot his own horn, he continued: “When they see you dancing, you pick them up. You get all the girls around the place man…You bring me back to my young days,” he laughed.
Even though he partied a lot, though, Austin would never neglect work or his family. “No, no, no…can’t neglect working at all. If you neglect working, everything done. Sporting time was after work but during work time, no sport. On the weekends we used to have dance every weekend. We had a centre there, but now it break down. Saturday night? Oh God, we sporting ‘til Sunday morning.”
He is still very close to his dear Lynette, and said it is love that kept them together for all these decades. “She’s still there; only the knees got a little weak. Love got we together up to now. Although me and my wife so old, ah still like she, you know, and we going along very nice up to now.”
Austin said his marriage had a good effect on him. “Since I got married, I changed my life up; the wild life and them thing till now. If I had continued with that life, me and my wife couldn’t live to 60 years.” Furthermore, he said all of his children turned out well.
“To be truthful, I never faced hardships you know. Leguan is a quiet place and if I leave and go to Georgetown where have more action, by the time I stay a two weeks, I want to come home. I can’t stay out because I am accustomed to this quietness. There is too much hassle in Georgetown; I ain’t like that place at all,” he said.
A typical day for Austin would see him taking an early morning shower, and then reaching for his hammock where he would spend the rest of the day, until he is ready to shower again in the afternoon and get his bed. “I got to get my papers though…ah reading ma Chronicle, Stabroek and Kaieteur. Every day, I have to get all three.”
Austin feels that more opportunities need to be created for the youths in Leguan before they fall away to harmful practices.
“I want to teach my grandchildren to live a good life, not a wild life-smoking and ganja and these sort of things. Although I’m so big, if I open my mouth on one of them, they got to keep quiet you know. They got to listen to me because I don’t stick nonsense at all.”
