Mr. Horace Hor Walwin Young CBE, QC

Horace Walwin Young, CBE, QC, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, citizen of Belize, passed away peacefully on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 7:23 a.m. at Baptist Hospital in Miami, Florida, at age 87.

It is said that the two most important days in one's life are the day you were born, and the day you understand your life's purpose. Horace Walwin Young, a charming, loving, and decent man with a great mind, made significant contributions to his country, and was an exemplary leader of his family. He certainly fulfilled his life's purpose with excellence and distinction.

Being a great orator, probably stemming from his early love of drama and music, he chose his life to be defined by the quotation taken from Shakespeare's "Hamlet" as his lifelong personal watchword and motto:

"To thine own self be true

And it must follow, as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

Born in Belize (formerly British Honduras) on July 5th,1922 to Edward Godwin Young (Deceased) and his wife Florine Inez Young (Deceased), Horace Walwin Young, eldest of ten children (9 sons and 1 daughter), completed his secondary education from 1935 to 1937 at St. George's College (now Wesley College). In 1938, he began working in the Government Service, where he held clerical appointments until 1945, when he was appointed Clerk to the Registrar General in the Crown Law Office. Horace remained in this post until 1951, when he became a First Class Clerk before being seconded in the same year to the Commissioner for Revision of Laws, who was also Chief Justice Sir Alfred Crane. Horace Young was his only assistant on Law Revision and was the Secretary to the Law Reform Committee until July 1952, when he was appointed to act as Registrar General, and was selected to study Law in the United Kingdom, under a Colonial Development and Welfare Scholarship Scheme. He studied at Southampton University in England from 1952 to 1956, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in July 1956, and was called to the English Bar (Inner Temple) in 1957 when he returned to Belize. He served as the only Crown Counsel in the Attorney General's office until 1961, and acted as Solicitor General twice, in 1959 and late 1960. In April and May 1960, Horace Young worked in London in the Legal Department of the Colonial Office and was given "special assignments involving technical matters relating to drafting the Constitutions of many British Territories that were soon to become independent." After returning home to Belize, he resigned on January 17, 1961 from the Public Service, having served for twenty three years, and entered private practice as a lawyer. By this time, Horace Young was already well known nationally and internationally and had a high standing in society.

In that same year 1961, he was nominated to the Legislative Assembly of Belize by the then Governor C. H. Thornley, serving in that capacity until 1965. In April 1968, he was again nominated by the Governor to be a member of a delegation from Belize to the Washington Conference on the Guatemalan Claim to Belize with Ambassador (U.S.) Bethuel Webster as mediator, to receive and discuss "The Seventeen Proposals". These proposals were later to be rejected by Belize.

As a lawyer with his own law firm for 32 years, Horace Young earned distinction in his profession and often won the toughest cases with his knowledge of the law and gift for oration and debate. In 1974 he was made a Queen's Counsel and in 1979 was decorated with the CBE - Commander of the British Empire. He continued to serve Belize and its people in various fields of service. This included as Chairman of the Belize Advisory Council, and as President of the World Jurist Association. From 1985 to 1987 he served as a Judge Advocate in the Belize Defense Force Court-Martials, as a Supreme Court Judge in 1993, and promoted as a Justice of the Appeals Court until 1998. He has also been the President of the Bar Association for several terms, Chairman of the Development Finance Corporation, President of the Belize Library Association, Chairman of the Belize National Library Service Board, Vice-President of the Scouts Council, President of the Football League, Chairman of the Belize Beef Corporation, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hofius Ltd., and a member of the Methodist Conference of the Caribbean.

His hobbies included playing the piano, sports (tennis, basketball, track and field, high jumping, swimming), and fishing, for which he holds the record for a 38 pound Barracuda catch.

Horace Walwin Young is survived by his wife of 60 years, Norma, seven children - Kathleen, Horace Jr. (Sandy), Laverne, Michael, Cislyn, Sandra and Nigel. He is also survived by brothers Russell, Harold (Bunny), Clive, Gordon and sister Helen (Peggy) Monsanto, 15 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren and a host of cousins including Sir Colville Young, Walford Young, Melba-Jean Staine, Myrna Stevens, Godfrey Young, John Young, Leonard (Lenny) Young, James Young, Lois Coleman, Loretta Monsanto and Eleanor Wagner. He was predeceased by Gilbert (G&G) Young, Lawrence (Pampo) Young, Evan (Kit) Young and Edward (Junie) Young. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

His calm and caring disposition is evident in his off-springs. His humor, love for ice cream and flan, love for his country and family, will be remembered by his family. His contributions to the progress of Belize will be remembered by his fellow Belizeans and colleagues.