By James (JJ Rocks) Johnston
One of the things I’ve learned from being here on and off for the last 25 years is the fact that St. Croix’s senior citizens love to talk about their younger years here on the island. This column is dedicated to those wonderful people who always seem to have a warm smile and a kind word. You know it’s funny in a way because I grew up in the states under the impression that older people (grandparents age) were always grumpy if they didn’t know you. But down here on our wonderful island, our kindest, most trusting, and most pleasant people to be around are the ones that are the oldest.
I can remember the first time that I walked past a domino game on the way in to a local gas station. There were some elderly men slamming their hands down on the table and yelling at each other. Well, to someone that just got here and didn’t know anything about dominos, it was kind of strange. I think the first thing that I thought was “man, these old guys are grumpier than the ones in the states”. Then someone walked past and said to them “good night, “and they all turned around and said the same thing back. Real loud! So, of course I figured that they knew the person and left it at that. But I started seeing the same kind of thing all over the island and one night on my way in to the same station I said “good night”, and they all turned and looked at me and said the same thing back. Later I learned that you’re considered rude if you don’t say it. I also learned that if you take the time to say hi and talk for awhile, you will most likely make a new friend. It’s just that easy. The results of me stopping to talk with some of these wonderful people will be in "Mango Memories", which is occasionally a part of "Special Features". - JJ Rocks www.stcroixmusic.com
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Clifford Gumbs is a very kind gentleman who loves to talk about when he first got here in the late fifties. These are some of his memories
SCM: Could you tell us a little about your life when you first got to St. Croix?
Clifford: I came here in the late fifties and I stated cutting cane.
SCM: Were on the island did you work?
Clifford: All over. Do you see those houses up there? (Sion hill) It was all cane. Over the hill on both sides of Sunny Isle was all sugar cane. All down by pueblo was all sugar cane. All over the island was sugar cane. We would cut for the people who grew it and they would sell it to the sugar factory. Then they would pay us, sometimes 50 cents, and sometimes 75 cents an hour. The money was small, but the cost of living was cheap!
SCM: What was the price of food like?
Clifford: Food? Man! In those days you could go and get a big duck, about five pounds, maybe six pounds for $1.50. You could get a big chicken for 50 or 60 cents.
SCM: What about lobster?
Clifford: You could get a three or four pound lobster for about a dollar. And those pants you got on, you could get those for a dollar. And you could get shoes for about a dollar and fifty, maybe two dollars.
SCM: How was the fishing back then?
Clifford: Alot of fish! Alot of lobsters! We had traps, you know, fish traps. And we would go on a line and we’d catch red snapper. We used to catch alot of fish! I still have a small fishing boat.
SCM: Were there many cars back then?
Clifford: Yeah! We had cars! But at that time the cars were not so public. But we had stick shift. You know, with a clutch. At that time I didn’t have many dealings with cars really. But if you wanted to go like, from Christiansted to the airport, it was three dollars in a cab. But gasoline was just fifty cents a gallon!
October, 2006
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