Arthur Waldron

2006 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient

Arthur (Mr. Atta or Papa) Charles Waldron entered the world on January 1, 1909, as the first boy of Mr. & Mrs. Charles Waldron of Cayenne.  He lost his father at the tender age of 8 and became an orphan by age 9. To provide for the family, his grandmother would barter household items, which he would take to the people who gave him groceries in return.  After a while there was nothing left to sell, so he pestered his grandmother to allow him to find a job. 

At age 9 he went to work for a man chosen by his grandmother. However, he felt he was not making sufficient money to support a grandmother and three other siblings so he worked at two different jobs in the afternoon and attended school during the day.  This early discipline proved to be a foundation for the work ethics that contributed to his enormous success. By age 15 he had completed the equivalence of an elementary education and was at the top of his class. But his grandmother died and he was left to care for his three siblings. At age 19 he left Cayenne to travel to France, but stopped in Dominica to visit his aunts.  Realizing that they were on their own with no male presence in the home, he decided to stay in Dominica to care for them. He never left the island. 

His exploits in business began with forming a 'truck' passenger business to transport people from the villages to Portsmouth for market days.  Saturday was one of his most lucrative days, but through divine intervention and a study of God's word, he was convinced that he was breaking God's holy day and had to make a decision to follow his conscience.  In the early forties Papa" traveled to Wesley to be baptized, but the members were unwilling to baptize him because they claimed he was not knowledgeable about the church doctrines.  After much deliberation he was allowed into the church, and became one of the island's most influential leaders and supporters.

Throughout his life he held numerous positions in the church.  He was an active head elder for more than 25 years; but he had a deep burden for the young people.  He believed what God said in scripture "sell all that thou hast and give to the poor..." which he literally practiced and had only two outfits, one for work and one for church.  However, God blessed him with tremendous wealth and a giving heart.

 He took the message very seriously, and understanding the work of the Holy Spirit, he prayed that God would enlighten him. A pioneering lay evangelist, he and Bro. James Lake began preaching, visiting house-to-house and holding open-air meetings in the villages of Bourne, Dos'dane, Paix-Bouche, Belle Maniere, Thibaud, Bense and Veillecase.  In 1948, Hudson Fabien of Bense was baptised, and soon others began accepting the message.  This initiated the first SDA Companies in Bense and Dos'dane. This Dos'dane company moved to Bourne and these two villages began experiencing a growth in Adventism.  Bro. Waldron also worked in Fond St. Jean, Petite Savanne, Capuchin and Clifton, and organized a branch school in Castle Bruce.

God gave Bro. Waldron a vision to build and establish Christian education on the island.  With this in mind, he formed  "The Dominica Seventh-Day Adventist Laymen's Federation" which held it's first meeting at the Wesley S.D.A. church in December 1956. One of the Federation's first achievements was sending a local missionary minded lay worker to open a school in the Carib Reserve in March 1957.

 In 1974 the Federation embarked on a mission to address the need for a school to educate the young people instead of allowing them to attend the public schools.  There was much prayer and fasting with many discussions between the East Caribbean Conference and the Layman's Federation.  Funds were limited to embark on this major undertaking, so Bro Waldron, by then one of the most successful businessmen in Portsmouth, became the main benefactor of the project.  With his determination towards Christian Education, a school was opened at Bourne. It was eventually moved to Bense, becoming a large elementary school accommodating children from Portsmouth to Marigot.   Later, he purchased land for a secondary school, thus enabling the formation of the Dominica Seventh-day Adventist Secondary School and Dormitory.  Bro. Waldron also purchased land at Glanvillia, Portsmouth, and with the assistance of other fellow members, built a church for worship.

Had the Federation continued to function on the island of Dominica, Bro. Waldron's aim was to get more land to establish a Sanitarium, and extra land to cultivate crops that could yield fruits within a year or so to support that project.   

He was a man of his word, a hard worker, one who rose early (the early bird catches the worm), one who was honest and lived what he believed. He cared for God's family as if they were his blood relatives. 

 He married Gladys Maria, nee Blondell, on November 11, 1950. The couple had four children: Cyrus, Wenham, Ruth and Maria.  He was a devoted husband, a caring father, a friend to the homeless, a provider to everyone who was in need, and his home (as he always said) a city of refuge.  He believed in family worship and erected a morning and evening altar to which everyone who visited or lived had to attend.  He departed this life suddenly on June 3, 2004.  His dreams will continue to live on through the monuments and legacy left behind and the lives of those he touched. 

Ms. Beryl Williams (DASUS President), Ms. Zilpha Theodore (Consul General, Dominica Mission, NY), Claudtte Higgins and Cyrus White (granddaughter and son) at award presentation. 

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