Barbadians from all walks of life came together to celebrate the life and legacy of Pedro Welch, a former professor of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.
His funeral was held at the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Oldbury campsite in St Philip on Tuesday.
Welch, 74, who died on February 21, was also an elder of the SDA Church for more than 35 years.
Those attending the home-going service included President, The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason, president of the Senate The Most Honourable Reginald Farley, former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and former leader of the Democratic Labour Party Verla De Peiza along with some members of the SDA.
Deputy principal of the University of the West Indies’ Cave Hill Campus Professor Winston Moore described Welch as a distinguished historian and a respected academic, a devoted servant of the university and Barbados.
“He was not only a fine scholar, but also a deeply compassionate administrator . . . I speak today not just as deputy principal, a position which Professor Welch once held, but as a colleague who I would have interacted with as a junior academic. He was humble, kind and especially kind to everyone he came into contact with,” Moore said.
Welch’s sister Sonja, in delivering the eulogy along with brother Peter on behalf of the family, acknowledged the tributes to the deceased whom she described as the “dear departed beloved, the late Dr Pedro Lancelot Virelle Welch, Professor Emeritus. No truer statement could have been made of him than that of the Honourable Prime Minister who described him as a gentleman and a scholar”.
She traced Welch’s genealogy – one of his passions, his family origin in Christ Church and in St Thomas, which was rooted in teaching and education. He attended Christ Church Foundation Boys, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He was also a classmate of former Prime Minister Stuart.
“Like teaching, music was also embedded in his veins…[he] taught himself to play the guitar and the piano . . . he did not need music lessons . . . it was after he retired he formally studied the theory of music,” said Sonja, a retired ambassador and permanent secretary.
Welch is survived by his wife Monica, children Dr Pedro Andre Welch and Gem Bonnett; siblings Peter and Sonja, Yolande Phillips and McCurley Taylor and grandchildren. (JS)
