STORIES OF OUR FAMILIES
To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root.
ROBERT LOUIS SHEPPARD
1920 - 1999
Robert Louis Sheppard was born on 10th March 1920, the eighth child of Charles and Elsie (Gomez) Sheppard's family of 13 children. At the time of his birth, the Sheppard family lived at Stone Street, Port of Spain. But in 1937 Grandpa Charlie bought a large property at 30 Richmond Street to accommodate his already large and increasing family. Four year old Robert and his nine siblings moved in. My father, Andrew was the closest to Robert in age, born in 1922. They shared much of their childhood experiences, the most traumatic of which was the death of their father in 1933 when they were young boys.
In his memoirs my father wrote:
"Trinidad was and is a predominantly Roman Catholic Country because of its Spanish and French origins. I was Presbyterian. Being the last of six sons, obtaining a place in the Government-run main secondary school was a problem for my brother Robert and I because we had four older brothers attending that college, Queen’s Royal College, and their regulations did not permit any more than four pupils from any one family.
Consequently, Robert and I found ourselves at St. Mary’s College, otherwise known as C.I.C. (College of the Immaculate Conception), almost entirely Roman Catholic. We were definitely out of place. Apart from studies, the only other activities that we could perform were football, athletics, boxing. We were not allowed to join the Sea Scouts, nor could we join choirs nor drama clubs. Cadets was also on the list of restricted areas. We were also prevented from entering the school chapel. Whenever our Catholic friends attended Mass, we were obliged to remain in our classrooms for the period under the supervision of a Protestant teacher or a Head Boy. It was uncomfortable and confusing to be in this situation. It was not our imagination either that non-Catholics were the victims of discrimination. We were always severely punished for any infringement of the rules of the school. Being late or forgetting poetry or not completing homework always guaranteed us a beating by the Dean of Studies or the Dean of Discipline.
In spite of everything, Robert and I succeeded up to a point. Our widowed mother could no longer afford to pay the school fees of $12.00 per three month term each, so we had to leave and find gainful employment to assist in supporting our large family of twelve children.
Robert got a job with a large, diverse commercial company as an office boy"