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Hon. Fred Mitchell: Tribute to the late Frank Leopold Edgecombe
Nov 25, 2013 - 2:17:11 PM

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Nassau, Bahamas - The following are the Remarks by Fred Mitchell, MP For Fox Hill at the funeral of Frank Edgecombe JP, 25th November, 2013: 

It is an enormous privilege to be able to speak at the funeral of my late friend and brother Frank Edgecombe.  His quiet presence was always there in the background as long as I have been the MP for Fox Hill: Not a lot of flourish but always great substance. He has left a legacy for Fox Hill. It is one I am proud to help to continue.   

We come to bury today Frank Leopold Edgecombe, a son of Fox Hill, and a standard bearer for The Bahamas. He was what Pindling once called a man of ordinary means who in a generation was able to transform himself from a little boy from Fox Hill to an exemplar of his village. I am a promoter of the PLP’s story of social mobility. That you can go from one social level to a higher one within a generation to the next.   

Mr. Edgecombe was born with little but he took that little and transformed it within his lifetime into an empire that he was able to pass on to his children and grandchildren, a whole street named after him. We have to recommit ourselves to making sure that this continues to be the story of The Bahamas.

I recall for you now the story I told when we were naming the street after him. I had my majority in 2007 reduced from 1200 down to 60 or so. I was crestfallen. He said to me, “brother Mitchell, you only have to win by one.”

When in 1977, the PLP was looking for a candidate in the general election of that year, the choice seemed to go automatically to him. The party elders kept talking about this man who was a well-known teacher, who had been the principal of the Sandilands School and that Frank was the man that they wanted. They chose their man and he won the seat and kept the seat for ten years until he was succeeded by the late George Mackey.  

Such was his value to the Party that they asked him stay on in 1987 for another five years and he served with distinction as the Vice President of the Senate.  

That is the barebones though of a political and civic life. The obituary speaks to his lifelong support of the Baptist faith and the leadership at Mt. Carey Baptist Church to which he is now fully reconciled.   This was a man of indefatigable energy.  One day, I was passing along the Prince Charles Drive, not so long ago. I looked up on the roof of a church edifice and there in his very senior years was Frank Edgecombe up on the roof putting on the final touches.  He was a builder.  

He passed that on to his sons, just as he passed on his passion for teaching to his only daughter Norma.  

In death I would like to say that my recollections of Mr. Edgecombe are not sad ones but happy ones. He was always there in support of whatever we in the PLP were doing in this area. He was a party man, and he asked for little in return. He gave of his time, talent and money. For this, the local branch is deeply appreciative.  

I would like to say that Mr. Edgecombe came along in an era that was once described by Edison Key, the now MP for South Abaco. Mr. Key said that in his day all he needed to do was call Pindling and before the phone was down, the request was carried out.  

It is to that era  and that manner of public policy to which the younger people of our country now look to this generation of politicians. Too often, we are saying no instead of yes.  

For example, with the death of Mr. Edgecombe yet another Justice of the Peace for the Fox Hill area is gone. There is a need for many of the Justices of the Peace to be named and rest assured this is a matter to which I am dedicated.  

The people of Fox Hill see the Sandilands School, the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre and the Fox HiIl Prison as the natural place for them to work. That too is something to which I am dedicated.  

The PLP created the constituency of Fox Hill in the 1968 general election in tribute to the people of African decent and their discrete  development that they preserved and protected. It is that legacy that we still work to protect today. We have to support the young people in this community in that spirit so that they buy into the fact that this is a community for them and one to be nurtured and protected. That is why we are all dedicated to putting them back to work.  

Let us all on this day dedicate ourselves to making sure that we can yes and not no to any to their requests.  

As we move toward the campaign of 2017,  I would like to think of it as campaigning on the basis of Frank’s list: A wish list which he had of his beloved Fox Hill that he  fought for with quiet and fierce determination as a PLP whether in or out of the government.  

I have had the benefit of his wise counsel, of his friendship, of his brotherhood, of being an extended part of the family, of knowing his boys, his grandchildren, his daughter.  

Frank Edgecombe did not just bring promise to the PLP, he brought numbers: his boys, his daughter, his grandchildren; true believers.  

One of Norma’s boys has the political bug and in that respect takes after his granddaddy, a true believer in an age when few believe in that kind of way. So the baton is passed.  

Thank you Frank Edgecombe for your life of service to Fox Hill and to the wider  Bahamas. When you were called to step up the plate, you never wavered. For this our village is grateful.  

May God bless you, your wife Clementina and all the family in this their hour of bereavement. We will ever pray.  

God bless you all. God bless Fox Hill and God Bless the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.



Bahamas State Recognised Funeral for Frank Edgecombe


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