Blog Schedule

I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Good-bye Victor


I learned on Friday that an old friend, Victor Hall, passed away. He was just 61 years old. His mom and my mom were best friends growing up together on St. John waaaaay back in the 1930s. Victor was part of the Bish Mob (as my mother called us) who were a group of boys I hung out with as a young teen.


One of the things the Bish Mob liked to do was go to Trunk Bay when it was loaded with tourists and stage fights. Fully clothed, three, four (sometimes as many as six) boys would all act like they were attacking me. I'd be screaming, running. They'd be chasing, capturing , and throwing me into the water. Once we thought we had a fair amount of attention we'd stop, shake hands, thank each other for a very nice game and say, "That was fun. We should do this again soon." After that, we'd change into our suits, hang our clothes out to dry on the seagrape trees and act like normal people at the beach. Victor was a part of that. He looked vaguely like Jimi Hendrix.


As young adults in our 20's he had a bar call The Kite above Peter Bay. Me and two other friends along with Victor played music there, entertaining tourists who wandered up the hill from the National Park Camp Ground at Cinnamon Bay. Victor played a mean kalimba. We had a lot of fun.

In later years he moved his bar out to Coral Bay and I hear it was featured on "Good Morning America." He became quite knowledgeable about local herbal remedies for various ailments and was known as the Bush Tea Man. You can see a picture of his original bar at Peter Bay and hear an interview with him here. He was an interesting character.

Once I moved to the states I lost touch with Victor. Still I will always have fond memories.


Good-bye Victor. Happy sailing. I bet you'll be accompanying other musicians with your kalimba, playing to the stars.

12 comments:

  1. Lovely tribute. I'm glad you had a Victor in your life.

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  2. Victor must have been someone special. He lives one in every memory you have of him. Hamba kahle, Victor!

    Judy (South Africa)

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  3. Death sucks. :P

    We fight it by being good to each other when alive, and remembering each other afterward.

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  4. What a wonderful tribute to your friend. And it was fun to learn more about you, too.

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  5. I love your stories. You've led such a fascinating life and met the most intriguing souls. I'm so sorry for your loss.

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  6. Love that tribute and very sorry to hear he passed so young. As I looked at his pic I was thinking how much he resembled Jimi. I think it's his hair style. :) I'm truly sorry for your loss, Bish. (((hugs)))

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  7. What a touching tribute. I like your story about being chased by the boys and thrown into the water.

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  8. What an intriguing man (and a fun group of friends). You must feel lucky to have known him.

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  9. Beautiful tribute :)

    Victor sounded like a wonderful character.

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  10. Condolences on the loss of Victor. What a fine tribute to him. :)

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  11. I am 8+ years late with this, but I just found your blog site. Victor was a very dear friend of mine from 1965 - 1970. I lived in St. Thomas at the time and was struggling to find a balance in my life. Many times he and I would hang all night until the sun came up talking about everything from politics to music. I can honestly say that Victor changed my life. We also were the same age and shared the same birthday - February 15th! Even though it is a half century later, I will always miss his confidence and warmth. Bish, I would love to talk with you about those years. Hope to hear from you. Jeff

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  12. Thank you for sharing that story I recently realized he had passed.Every year I listen to his album I purchased in St Jons. I wanted to go back and see him again and when I had the chance I looked him up and found out I was too late.. He reflected to me in a very positive way and although I only had a conversation of at most an hour it was like I had known him all my life. Thank you for sharing your story about him it means a lot. You can't get no Better. God bless.

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