Eldemire Smith - A superhuman father figure

The passing of St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) patriarch Eldemire Smith has hit the school community hard. Among those lamenting his death are former West Indies pacer Jerome Taylor and 1997 Girls’ Championships double winner Peta-Gaye Gayle. Speaking on April 15 at Smith’s funeral in Thorton, St Elizabeth, Taylor described the former STETHS teacher, track and field coach and vice-principal as superhuman while Gayle said he was a father to her.

“He was more than a coach. He was more like a father to me. He has guided me from 12 years old until now even after my track career and everything,” recounted a saddened Gayle, who did the 400 metres and 400m hurdles for STETHS at Girls’ Championships in 1997.

Smith joined the STETHS staff as a mathematics teacher in 1980, and when he retired a few years ago, he was vice-principal. Though he retired a few years ago, he continued his work as a member of the STETHS athletics coaching staff.

Taylor found it hard to voice his feelings. “Honestly, there are no words. Cannot explain. Eldemire Smith, to me, he’s a superhuman being, and a lot of persons here today would express the same thing to you that, look, he was an icon. He did everything. He went above and beyond for every person,” said the bowler, who took 130 Test wickets for the West Indies.

“He knew everything, I mean, big in tracks, but you could call upon him for almost everything, and hence the reason why he was actually a superhuman being,” Taylor said of his mentor’s wide-ranging knowledge.

Struggling as the conversation continued, the former West Indies player added, “it is hard, very hard. Being a person who lived in his home for all my STETHS life, it’s hard.”

Gayle, the fourth-place finisher in the hurdles at the 1998 World Under-20 Championships, says she will take the lessons Smith taught her into the future.

“Just persistence. Always persevere. Always work hard. Always just try to correct what’s wrong and always just work hard at everything in life,” she recited passionately.

Many STETHS graduates were in attendance, including 2009 World 100m hurdles champion Brigitte Foster-Hylton, 2008 Olympic and 2009 World 400m runner up Shericka Williams, 2021 Olympic 110m hurdles bronze medallist Ronald Levy and ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships javelin record holder Devon Spencer. Also present were sprint empress Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce and her husband Jason, STETHS headmaster Keith Wellington, Member of Parliament Mikael Phillips, GC Foster College principal Maurice Wilson, and Western Relays meet director Tony Myers.

The farewell to Smith follows a similar event last month to celebrate the life of his friend and coaching colleague Edward Hector.