Lolita Euson (27 October 1914 – 13 August 1994) was a

Dutch Antillean nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

writer and poet. She was invested as a Knight of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

, and streets in both Sint Eustatius and

San Nicolaas San Nicolaas ( nl, Sint Nicolaas) is southeast of Oranjestad, and is Aruba's second largest city. it has a population of 15,283, most of whom originate from the British Caribbean and rest of the Caribbean. History According to oral tradition, ...

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

, bear her name. In 1996, she was memorialized by an Arubian stamp, which depicts her likeness.

Biography

Lolita Esmeralda was born on the

island of

Sint Eustatius Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, so ...

on 27 October 1914. In 1936, she left Sint Eustatius and relocated to

, where she won acclaim for her weekly columns in the periodical ''The Local''. Euson published her first collection of poetry ''Sweet Praises'' in 1988, which won a Golden Poet Award from the World of Poetry in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

and was celebrated in a ceremony in

by local dignitaries. The collection contained poems written in praise of various occasions, including national and religious themes, and touched on the death of President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

as well as themes concerning the Dutch royal family. Euson was invested as a Knight of the

Death and legacy

Euson died on 13 August 1994 in Aruba. In 1995, her name was placed on a street in San Nicolas, Aruba. There is also a street which bears her name in Sint Eustatius. In 1996, a postage stamp bearing her likeness was issued in Aruba. Posthumously, poems written by Euson have been included in Klaas de Groot's 2010 anthology of Caribbean writers, ''Vaar naar de vuurtoren'' (Sail to the Lighthouse) and the 2014 volume, ''Moonlight on the Waves'' included previously unpublished poems by the author. Similar to her previous volume, the poems tend to focus on religious and holiday themes. She was the mother of the Caribbean singer Julio Euson.

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Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Euson, Lolita 1914 births 1994 deaths Aruban women writers Aruban poets Aruban women poets Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau 20th-century women writers