by Wilberforce Johnson
Bertie Bacchus 1935 – 2021
Bertie Bacchus was born in Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) at No4. village West Coast Berbice in 1935. He was the son of Edwin Bacchus and Clara Tim.
Edwin Bacchus was a wealthy businessman who lived at neighboring No6 village.
Clara Tim was a domestic who later married a villager named John.
Bertie Bacchus, a quiet man of dignity, often cited lessons he learned in his life’s journey, which was full he said, of hard blows of despair but tempered in good measure with joys of achieving and nestling in sublime love, care and support of his dear, loving family.
One of the most pivotal memories of his preteen upbringing was his mother Clara’s influence on his life.
Clara’s interest in his learning was boundless. What impressed him most was that at the time when he was writing ‘“school leaving” exams , she had already made arrangements for him to write a test for a partial scholarship to attend Wray’s High School in Georgetown.
After a sterling early school stint he found employment as a postal apprentice at Rosignol Post Office. This was temporary as his mother had other plans and soon afterwards he was sent to Mackenzie (now Linden) to be with his uncle and to attend the High School there ( now Mackenzie High) to further his education.
While at high school he pursued and was successful at the senior Cambridge Exams.
But it was at this time however he had the misfortune of losing his mother who passed away at an early age of 36.
He was heartbroken particularly about not being able to attend the funeral because of transportation issues of the day since by the time the only means of transportation, the river boat R H Carr, became available, the funeral had already passed.
Bertie remained restless about the limited opportunities for educational advancement so after a brief period of teaching and passing the pupil teacher exam , he applied to the Civil Service and was appointed a clerk in the Department of Education.
He continued to study for the Cambridge University Higher School certificate and the London University Advanced level Certificate through which he passed in the subjects History and Economics.
He was successful in the civil service exam for Cadet training.
In 1961 he was one of a select group of twelve Administrative Cadets who were assigned to several postings
One was in the interior working in the Rupununi District.
He was then selected to attend a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program in Puerto Rico in 1962 and again a United Nations (UN) program in Jamaica in 1963.
In 1964 while still in Guyana, Bertie took the advice of the then Permanent Secretary of Education Mr. Carl Nunes and applied for entrance to Universities abroad.
Bertie applied to several universities but accepted the first to grant him an offer.
He arrived in Manitoba Canada in 1964 with his wife and one year old daughter and completed a degree in Commerce in 1967.
He sought and found a job with a firm in Toronto more than a thousand miles away.
He subsequently joined the Canadian civil service and rose to the position of financial Coordinator for forty three Hospitals in South West Ontario.
He held several international consulting portfolios working as a financial management consultant to Guyana Ministry of Health/ Inter- American Development Bank for a fifteen month period in 1994-1995 among many others.
Most importantly he sponsored two student scholarships, one at No 5 Primary School at # 5 Village West Coast Berbice (his alma mater)and the other at Christianburg-Wismar Multilateral School.( in memory of his uncle with whom he lived while attending high school).
His other community services included being auditor of the Guyana Canada Chamber of Commerce, the Linden Fund Association and Independence/ Republic Day Celebrations, Guyana Awards Canada and membership of the Guyana Flood Relief Committee
Bertie Bacchus always said that giving back to the village of his birth had been his greatest source of satisfaction in life.
