Winston Vernon Saunders, CMG (3 October 1941 – 25 November 2006) was a Bahamian educator, lawyer, actor, playwright and cultural director.

Early life

In his youth, Saunders attended

Government High School A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in the country. ...

, later becoming head boy there. Having attended the Bahamas Teachers' College, he obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) in

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

in 1964. He taught English at St Anne's High School in Nassau from 1964 until 1968.Obituary
/ref> In April 1968, Saunders married Diane Gail North. In the fall of that year, he returned to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to obtain a postgraduate certificate in education at the

. Saunders served as vice-principal of RM Bailey Senior High School from 1969 to 1970. In 1970, he joined a law firm as an articled clerk. Saunders was called to the Bahamas Bar in 1974, and later became a partner in the prestigious Bahamian law firm of McKinney, Bancroft and Hughes.

Career

An actor, playwright, director and producer, Saunders assumed the position of chairman of the Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts from 1975 to 1998. Saunders was the author of two notable Bahamian plays – ''Them'' and ''You Can Lead A Horse To Water'' – as well as the ''Nehemiah Quartet'' series. In the Bahamas, Saunders founded the: * National Youth Choir * National Dance Company; * National Children's Choir; and * modern Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts.Mourners Bid Farewell
/ref> Saunders won a number of awards including: * DANSAs for playwriting * the Meta * a special DANSA for Excellence in Theatre * the Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Citizen Award for contribution to Culture; and * the Silver Jubilee Award for Culture. Saunders was Her Majesty's

Coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into Manner of death, the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

for the Bahamas from 1993 and 2000. In 2004, Saunders was made a

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

(CMG).Arthia Nixon, "Winston V. Saunders Repertory Season Takes Centre Stage"
theBahamasWeekly.com, 9 January 2008.

Death

Saunders died in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

on 25 November 2006, where, in his role as chairman of the Bahamas’ National Commission on Cultural Development, he was assisting in discussions to plan the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the

abolition Abolition refers to the act of putting an end to something by law, and may refer to: * Abolitionism, abolition of slavery * Abolition of the death penalty, also called capital punishment * Abolition of monarchy *Abolition of nuclear weapons *Abol ...

of the slave trade in the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

. Saunders was survived by his wife Gail Saunders,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, the director-general of Heritage in the Bahamas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Winston 1941 births 2006 deaths Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Bahamian dramatists and playwrights Alumni of the University of London People from Nassau, Bahamas Bahamian male actors 20th-century dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Bahamian lawyers