Sierra Leone has lost an illustrious son, patriot, and socialite, Cyril Walton Macauley, commonly known by his close friends as “Kroo Bay.” During the short period I knew him in the US, it appears as if we’d known each other forever. The friendship ignited when his friend Sylvester Rowe a retired UN official ordered a book from me, asking me to conceal his identity by telling Cyril that the book was sent to him by the “Mayor of Samba Gutter.” Grown Salone men still play pranks on their old friends to tickle their memory and long term connection. Cyril too after receiving the book and unmasking who the generous donor that had ordered several copies of the book was, did likewise. That was how our friendship ignited and grew stronger. He loved books and enjoyed sparking off debates on topical issues concerning Sierra Leone, and news around the world as well as nurture his insatiable thirst for information, education and entertainment. The literary world has lost an outstanding patron and generous supporter. Despite the fact that he was not a writer or poet,he unconsciously spoke in poetic form, with interesting imagery and dispensing justice to issues through the power of words. I bring you extracts from an array of his poetic free lines:

"Bra, me tem don reach"
Bo, una kushe oh!
Una nor worry for me! Ah dae wit God now.: كيف تعيش تموت Keef tayeesh tamout - Ow you live, na so you go die
Coppo man
Bobo red ade
Big big fish
You get coppoh? You get money?
Na by you way.
All tin combine
Ol’ boy
La he la
Foreign number
Wa Wa
Lef all dat
Lef dat ge dat
De man na kak man
For you bam bye
For thy pleasure
Tom Pepper Johnson
Asalamu-a-lekum, Alekum salam
Inshallah
People in glass houses should not through stones.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 28th at 10:00 a.m. at Trinity Reformed Church. Visitation will be on Friday, April 27th, from 2-4 & 7-9 pm and Saturday from 9 to 10 am. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society, 7 Ridgedale Ave. Suite 103, Cedar Knolls, NJ 07927.

To send condolences, please go to www.higginsfuneralhome.com. Cyril was born on June 15, 1940 to his mother, Marion Ayo Jenkins who separated from us on April 18, 2012 for a higher mission. Walton-Macaulay lived a full life, over 71 years. He took leave of us at the JFK Medical Center in Edison, New Jersey. Cyril was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he lived for 52 years, then re-located to the USA in 1992. He was raised by his grand-mother Clarise Zuaiba Macaulay, from childhood to youth. He attended the Government Model School, St. Edwards Primary and Secondary Schools. After his graduation at Form 5, he worked for a short while at the Post Office, and made his career as a banker at Barclays Bank. He rose to Branch Manager, serving at several branches of the Bank in Freetown, and in the Provinces, culminating his banking career at the position of Senior Manager.

Brother Cyril was a member and Master Mason in the Lodge Harmony No. 1446, of the Grand Lodge of Scotland. The High Court of the Republic of Sierra Leone appointed him Justice of the Peace and a Commissioner of Oaths as well.

“Beside every great man, there is a great woman.” Cyril became one flesh with his loving partner, Nora Morgan in February, 1970. It must have been an era of good times, for they added to the lineage with the birth of their children, Andrea and Corrie. He is survived by his wife and children. Other survivors include his grand-children, Corrine, Caelyn Alexander, and Amanda. His cousins Thelma and Kenneth, he raised as his own children. He took pride and great care of his family. In the USA, he became a counselor at the Abbot House in New York, working with special needs children until retirement in December, 2005. Within a year he re-located to North Plainfield, New Jersey, where he again took up counseling part-time. He was ardent in church activities, and became interested in teaching and learning the word of God professionally. He completed and obtained a certificate in religion from Liberty University. He also obtained a certificate in Theological Studies from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, sponsored by the Trinity Reformed Church.

Cyril was pleasant, dedicated, and a man of good-will, sharing in other folks joy and pain, consoled, laughed with, and touched many lives. If only folks have a fraction of his love and personality, we could all make each other’s lives brighter. He will be sorely missed, though this is believed a time of separation. The words of the anthem and hymn, The Homeland Oh The Homeland written by Hugh R. Haweis gives hope and confidence to all believers, and thinking of the world beyond.

The Homeland! O the Homeland! The land of souls free born!
No gloomy night is known there, but only fadeless morn:
I’m sighing for that country, my heart is aching here;
There is no pain in the Homeland to which I’m drawing near.

My Lord is in the Homeland, with angels bright and fair;
No sinful thing nor evil, can ever enter there;
The music of the ransomed is ringing in my ears,
And when I think of the Homeland, my eyes are wet with tears.

For loved ones in the Homeland are waiting me to come,
Where neither death nor sorrow invades their holy home:
O dear, dear native country! O rest and peace above!
Christ bring us all to the Homeland, of His eternal love.