Mr. Shirley, 87, was a public servant for more than five decades. He held several posts in government, including acting financial secretary, accountant general, chief accountant, and acting commissioner of inland revenue. The A.O. Shirley Recreation Grounds is named in his honour for his contributions to sports in the Virgin Islands.
I was born 14th of May 1927 in Road Town. Growing up in Road Town, we had no cars and things like that. We had just one road, and most people moved around on horses. I attended the St. George’s Anglican School. I lived in Road Town, and this area — Johnsons Ghut — belonged to my family, so I used to be up here around. My uncle and my father kept animals— cattle, sheep, goats and horses — so I had to travel between the two places a lot.
Since I was a young boy, I was a member of the St. George’s Anglican Church. I was a server at the church there for many years. My dad and uncle — James was my father and the other one was John — were twins. They were in the choir, so I would always go to church with my dad. I remember one Sunday the priest came and said to my dad, “I want this boy to be a server,” and I started from there and I have been in the church all my life.
I had to give up being a server just at the beginning of the year because of my legs. As a server, we had to assist the priest with the communion service and so on. We had to help out as a lay reader when the priest went on vacation. You had to almost run the church for periods of time until a priest came.
Public service
When I left school, I worked with the government. During my government career, I worked with the education department, customs, post office, registrar’s office, agriculture, finance and treasurer. I started out as a petty officer. The petty officer was like the bottom of the scale.
I was also a tax collector, chief accountant and acting financial secretary and acting commissioner of inland revenue — then accountant general. People came to the treasury, which was where the post office used to be. We didn’t have the departments and ministries like we have now.
Back in the days, it was always interesting. When I worked at the treasury we didn’t have computers and calculators and things like that there. We had to add up figures. It was really tough work. We had the audit department, which used to be behind you, so we had to be right on the ball all the time. Now you have all these gadgets to help you. In those days, we were under the Leeward Islands government, so the auditor was stationed in Antigua and would come to spend a few weeks here. He would bring his clerks down and audit the whole government.
I also saw as we transitioned from being strongly under the Queen to having our own government. Then, we used to get a grant from Britain. We got out of grant aid and now we can balance our own recurrent budget. We don’t get anything much from Britain anymore.
Sports
Cricket was the main game during my time growing up. All the American games came in later — games like softball, basketball and so on. Back in those days, we used to play where the softball field is now. The festival parade used to start and finish at the grounds, and then after the festivities the people used to leave bottles on the grounds. It was a hazard to us, the cricket players. So we had a delegation and went to the government at that time and asked them to give us an alternate site. That was when they gave us the new recreational grounds — now the A. O. Shirley Recreation Grounds. They gave us that for cricket. Now they have taken it back and we can’t go there with cricket anymore. We really don’t have a cricket ground anymore. I have quite a lot to do with cricket. I had my own team that was called the Bucks Cricket Club. There are not many of us left now. People like Father Julian Clarke; other people like Frank Abbott, William Penn; another chap called Jackie Todman. There was quite a number of people playing cricket.
We played usually on the weekends. People would come out and watch.
Service
I also had a lot to do with the church. I was a member of the vestry at the St. George’s Anglican Church. I was a member of the community club, and I am a member of the Lions Club of Tortola. I was one of the charter members of the club. It was a chap from Guyana who introduced it to us here, and we were sponsored by the Antiguan Lions Club.
We did a lot of community work and service. It is what the Lions members always did. One of our main things was at Christmastime we gave out food baskets to the poor and needy. We helped people who might be ill and needed help going overseas. Now we sponsor the games for the Special Olympics.
I was also a member of the BVI Recreation Trust. I was a member of that for many years.
Family
I would say I chose my wife for myself. I was about 30 when I got married, and we had two children. My wife’s name was Phyllis. We got married in 1957 and John was born the next year. We later moved up here [Johnsons Ghut].
Parenting was a lot different. At least the children had respect for the elderly people. I think that is one thing that was outstanding. There was respect for senior people. Younger people were taught well.
Interview conducted, condensed and edited by Ngovou Gyang.
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