GREAT BAY--Jason Lista, grandson of the late Dr. Claude Wathey, said the word “politician” is too limited to capture the life, leadership and national impact of the man he described as the Father of his Country and dubbed "the ole man" as the most consequential leader St. Maarten has ever had.
Lista, Wathey’s grandson, delivered the remarks during the centennial celebration marking 100 years since Wathey’s birth at Port St. Maarten. In presenting a historical refelction of Wathey, Lista added that Wathey questioned whether a small island could sustain an expansive government and costly institutions that failed to provide meaningful value to ordinary residents.
He said his grandfather had become concerned about the direction of St. Maarten before leaving public office and feared that excessive government structures could make life more expensive and complicated for the people they were intended to serve. “But he was weary of where the island was headed before he left office, skeptical that a small island could carry the costs of an expansive government or expensive institutions that may not offer real value for the ordinary person, only make life more costly and complicated for them,” Lista said.
Lista said Wathey understood that the island’s success had been difficult to achieve and could not be taken for granted. “He warned that success was hard won and not to take it for granted because it can go away,” Lista said. Against that warning, Lista said the word “politician” was too limited to capture Wathey’s life, leadership and national impact.
“So the word politician is too small for Claude Wathey. It cannot describe all that he was, contain all that he’s done. He was the Father of his Country. Today, we all stand on the shoulders of a giant,” Lista said.
Lista began his address by expressing gratitude to everyone who helped organize the centennial commemoration. “Let me first start by extending my most heartfelt gratitude to all who helped make this event possible. Your kindness, your patience, and your understanding in putting this together will always be appreciated,” he said.
He noted that the family faced serious illness, personal tragedy and other setbacks during preparations for the event, including the recent death of his aunt, Joyce, who had helped keep the effort moving in its early stages. “We faced unexpected tragedy and setbacks as a family along the road to getting it done, from grave illness to the sudden and recent passing of my late Aunt Joyce, who kept us going at the start,” Lista said.
He also recalled the story of a young Theo, who promised as a child that he would one day build a port, the same port where the centennial celebration was held. Lista said no speech or collection of tributes could fully capture the personality and complexity of the man his family knew. “I realize that despite our best efforts, none of us seem to capture the living Claude in full. Words always fall short. He eludes simple definitions. Yet from these tributes you begin to glean that someone remarkable once lived here,” Lista said.
While making clear that St. Maarten was built through the work of many men and women, Lista said Wathey remained unmatched in the scale of his purpose and the transformation achieved under his leadership. “St. Maarten was not built by a single man. Or woman. No one will ever claim that it was. But in its history a single man stands out, singular in his purpose and singular in the transformation he achieved,” he said.
“It would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. Claude Wathey was the most consequential leader St. Maarten has ever had.” Lista reflected on the economic and social condition of St. Maarten when Wathey left public service more than 30 years ago. By that time, he said, St. Maarten had become an economic success story by almost every credible measure. Its per capita income was among the highest, and possibly the highest, in the Caribbean, while unemployment was low.
The island had developed a prosperous middle class with a high level of homeownership. Residents were better educated and better fed than the generation before them, and the population was growing as living standards improved. Philipsburg was filled with restaurants and boutiques, Lista said, while international visitors stayed at some of the Caribbean’s leading resorts and artists came to the island and flourished.
He also recalled St. Maarten’s international profile near the end of the Cold War, when the presidents of the United States and France met on the island to discuss Europe and the changing global order following the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Lista rejected the argument that the island’s prosperity was inevitable or developed without deliberate leadership and decision-making. “The prosperity that followed Claude’s rise was not inevitable, as some mistakenly claim. As if human beings play no role in shaping their own destinies,” he said. “It was because of his conscious choices and action. Otherwise, everywhere would have had the same result.”
He described Wathey as the central change agent who helped lift St. Maarten out of hardship, isolation and neglect. “Claude was the critical factor and the great change agent that lifted a community up and out of darkness and neglect,” Lista said. He added that the possibilities created under Wathey also benefited people from across the region who later moved to St. Maarten and prospered. “Many who came to Claude’s St. Maarten later flourished under the possibilities he created,” he said.
He stressed that understanding Wathey’s contribution required looking back at the severe economic and social conditions St. Maarten faced in the 1940s. Travelers passing through the island during that period described it as dismal and bleak. By 1949, according to Lista, a Dutch anthropologist observed that people were leaving in search of employment, while many who remained depended on money sent home from abroad or survived through basic subsistence from the land. “It was no place of abundance because people don’t leave a place of abundance; they migrate toward one,” Lista said.
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Wathey came of age as the former plantation economy lay in ruins and the salt industry declined, conditions worsened by the Great Depression and the Second World War. There was little or no capital for investment, no running water or electricity, and no hospital apart from charitable care provided by the church. St. Maarten also lacked a recognizable economy capable of generating the revenue required to fund public services, much less support what would now be regarded as responsible fiscal policy or a balanced budget. “We were in the dark, both literally and figuratively. Claude had to start from scratch. Often he had to improvise,” Lista said.
He recalled the words of the late Mayor Dr. Hubert Petit, who said only people of a certain generation could properly judge Wathey because they understood the conditions he inherited. According to Lista, Petit also credited Wathey with breathing life into St. Maarten. Lista placed Wathey’s youth and early political career within the wider reality of colonial rule. “In his youth, colonialism was real, not a branch of academic study. Democracy did not yet exist here. The island was ruled almost exclusively by overseas priorities and directives,” he said.
Following the Second World War, sustained pressure from the United States encouraged European powers to dismantle their overseas empires and move toward decolonization. The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands was introduced in 1954, creating a path toward greater autonomy in local affairs. Lista said those experiences likely shaped Wathey’s outlook and his determination to establish a stronger economic foundation for St. Maarten.
With Europe still recovering from wartime destruction, Wathey turned to the United States for investment capital to help establish a new economy. Lista cited respected American families, including the Ford and Parker families, who placed confidence in Wathey’s vision and invested in major tourism developments such as the Mullet Bay and Concorde resorts.
Wathey assumed leadership at the age of 28 and demonstrated what Lista described as natural leadership ability, foresight, intelligence, charisma and both physical and moral courage. “Young Claude took the helm at the tender age of 28, demonstrated his abilities as a natural born leader,” Lista said. “Combined with his rare gift of foresight, a keen mind, and the charisma that comes from physical and moral courage, he catapulted to the top in the ’54 elections. St. Maarten had chosen its first leader.”
Lista said Wathey continued to receive strong electoral mandates across several decades. “Time and time again the people gave Claude an overwhelming mandate. Time and time again the people believed in him. Time and time again his electoral victories resounded across the decades,” he said. He argued that no other political leader had consistently matched Wathey’s share of the vote and said he doubted anyone ever would.
Lista said Wathey believed that legitimate political power came from the free consent of the governed, not from arbitrary or forced means. He emphasized that Wathey’s electoral successes occurred within the legal framework of the Charter for the Kingdom, including its legal principles and separation of powers, which remain in place. Lista also reflected on Wathey’s ability to navigate the competing interests within the former Netherlands Antilles. “Navigating the competing interests within the Netherlands Antilles was no easy task, but navigate them he did. He played the cards he was dealt, and he played them masterfully,” Lista said.
Wathey was instrumental in the constitutional reforms that led to greater local governance in 1983 and played a leading role in the Antillean delegation during the conference in The Hague. Lista said those agreements helped pave the way for Aruba’s status aparte and secured Wathey lasting admiration among many Arubans.
Despite his political influence and national standing, Wathey remained connected to working people and understood their aspirations, Lista said. “And yet he never lost touch with the concerns of the working man and woman. He respected their aspirations and their dignity,” he said. “He retained a quiet humility and was always accessible, but strong willed.”
He said his grandfather did not speak down to ordinary people, nor did he elevate himself in conversations with people considered powerful. “Claude did not talk down to you, nor did he talk up to you either,” he said. “He abided by a live and let live philosophy and it has made all the difference.”
He said Wathey’s love for St. Maarten extended across the border to the people of French Saint Martin. “Claude never forgot our brothers and sisters in French Saint Martin throughout his life. His love for the island knew no border,” he said. He recalled the public response after Wathey’s death, when his body was taken around the island for a final journey. Lista said the spontaneous display of affection and respect remained one of his most powerful memories.
“When he slipped from this world into the next, he was taken around the island for one last time, the spontaneous outpouring of love I witnessed is something I will never forget,” he said. Residents of French Quarter lined the road and spread flower petals before the hearse, while local police officers voluntarily put on white gloves and stood in salute as the procession passed.
“The people of French Quarter came out along the street and spread flower petals before the hearse as it passed, while the local police officers voluntarily put on their white gloves and stood in perfect salute,” Lista said. “Such was the love and respect for Claude Wathey.”
Lista said Wathey’s challenge to the present generation would be direct and focused on whether it would use its own time and resources to improve the country. “If he were alive today Claude’s bold challenge would be direct and simple: I did what I could with what I had in my time. What will you do in yours and will it make us all better off?” Lista said.
He concluded that Wathey’s achievements during his lifetime were exceptional and that he left behind a St. Maarten that was more prosperous, freer and filled with greater opportunity than the island into which he was born. “And so we return to where I started with these remarks, that Claude’s achievements in his lifetime were spectacular,” Lista said. “He left St. Maarten more prosperous, with greater opportunity, and freer than when he began his life. It is all anyone can ask of a leader.”
Lista closed the centennial tribute with a personal farewell to his grandfather. “Farewell and thank you, Papa. And thank you everyone.”
