Elma Lathuillerie Reyes - Biography

On March 14, 1935, Elma was born to Errol Lathuillerie and his wife Mildred at their home in Sookram Village, Sangre Grande, Trinidad.  She was the youngest of four girls.

Both of her parents were members of long established families of Arima, Trinidad, but her father, as a minor Civil Servant, was frequently transferred, which explained her place of birth and also their relocation to St. James, in West Port of Spain when she was just two weeks old.

Between then and her sixth year, the Lathuillerie family lived in South-East Port of Spain, both in front and behind "the Dry River"; in the rustic and scenic Diego Martin, and in Tunapuna, which was then and now a busy, continually expanding, district.

Her mother was not the typical housewife of that time. When she was sixteen, and still attending school in Port of Spain, she dropped out to take a job with East Trinidad's largest trading company of that time, as a cashier/bookkeeper.  The Managing Director of the firm was persuaded by a salesman to purchase a cash register, which was then a novel item and it turned out that her mother was the only person who they found who knew not only how to operate the register, but had considerable experience in doing so, as she would sometimes assist at a Port of Spain firm that was owned and operated by a relative, and had ben one of the early purchasers of a cash register.

By the time she became a working woman, Trinidad-grown cocoa was in considerable demand world wide, and fetched the highest price on the world market, and East Trinidad contained a major proportion of the island estates.  When British colonial administrators took cocoa plants for introduction as potential cash crop in West Africa and tropical Asia, they brought about a glut on the world market, and eventually an economic slump in Trinidad.

What would now be called 'downsizing' was inevitable in all of the business operations for whom cocoa was a principal money bringer and among these was the firm the young Mildred Betaudier was employed.  It was around this time that she developed a catering business out of what had formerly been a hobby, married Errol Lathuillerie and gave birth to her second child Elma.

The demands of a family, especially one which seemed to be constantly moving from one district to the other, filled her life for a while however, after World War II was declared , and US President Franklyn Delana Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill engaged in what came to be called "the Base Agreement".  Not only did her mother now Mrs. Lathuillerie go back to work, but the lifestyle of the family was changed.

This pact between the US President and the British Prime Minister, allowed, in exchange for some desperately needed  second-hand destroyers, the establishing of US Military bases in various parts of Trinidad.  In Central Trinidad was "Carlsen Field"; the naval Base in Chaguaramas in the Western peninsula; two "Fort Reid" Army Bases and "Waller Field" a military Air Force station, in areas adjacent to Arima.  

A large local civilian work force as well as the thousands of US American servicemen, all with lots of money to spend, converted Arima from a sleepy, economically strapped district into a "boom town".

Elma's grandfather Anthon Lathuillerie had not been a rich man. He was however, able to endow to each of his six children, an individual piece of land, each of which was located in a desirable residential area.  When her mother went back to work in Arima, her parents decided to build their own house on this land, and in 1942, weeks short of her seventh birthday, the family moved to        1a Gordon Street, the home in Arima where Elma spent most of her life and eventually raised her children.

At that time her father was assigned to Tunapuna as Market and Abattoir Clerk, while her mother's duties included being responsible for the "ration cards" of the shop's regular customers.  The declaration of the War had brought about severe shortages of imported food staples, and to ensure that there was fair distribution, these cards, which allowed every resident of the country, one pound of rice per week per person, would be taken by the purchaser and 'ticked off' by  a particular employee when the rice was handed over.

The British government launched a nationwide "Grow More Food" campaign and her father Errol Lathuillerie, who was at that time working as a Ward Officer at the Arima Warden's Office was persuaded by his superior officer, to lease two acres of then, forested land adjacent to Errol's residential property.   After clearing the land he eventually hired two commercial gardeners to plant food crops such as Pigeon Peas, Corn, Bananas, Ground provisions, African Hill Rice and assorted Vegetables.  

This did not only allow the family and some of their relatives a steady supply of food staples, but also to develop a brisk trade with market vendors, which was maintained until World War II ended. Then, with imported food staples being once more available, the majority market dried up, as consumers rejected local foods for those which came from abroad.

At nineteen years old Elma Lathuillerie married John Reyes a fellow Arimian whom she lived with at his family home on St. Joseph Street in Arima to eventually become the mother of four sons and two daughters. Her marriage ended in separation while pregnant with her sixth child and eventually returned to her parents home on 1a Gordon Street, Arima where she spent most of her adult life.

Now a mother of six young children, Elma having a passion for writing, began her life as a published writer in 1960 with short stories and serial-type fiction, having her work published in local magazines in Trinidad and Tobago and also in Barbados.  Two years later the British publishing Company, I.P.C. decided to establish a branch of their 'Mirror Newspaper' in Trinidad and Elma was chosen for job training and successfully became the first female writer for the 'Sunday Mirror'.  

This meant that in addition, to general feature writing, she was expected to produce articles on childcare, cooking, interior decor as well as plan and write the material for the illustrated fashion page. Because of their large output, some of her work was published with the bylines 'Jessica Jones' and the fashion page identity was 'Rose Lima'.

Approximately four years later the Mirror Newspaper succumbed to political pressure, and it's owners sold it to it's rival, Lord Roy Thompson, whose principal concern was shut down its operation. Elma decided to move on and began working for D.M. Searl Associates a Public Relations firm where she landed a position writing promotional copy for Trinidad and Tobago Tourist Board.  Elma was also asked to produce a weekly illustrated 'Fridays Fashion Page'  for the 'Evening News', a Thompson operated newspaper and she also was involved with 'ACTION' a tabloid which some of the ex-Mirror employees maintained while they sought financing for the newspaper which became 'the Trinidad Express'.

After working with some of the best photographers in the Caribbean, Elma developed interest in the art form and decided to use some of her severance money for training at the New York Institute of Photography then located in Mid-Town Manhattan. Upon completion of the course in Commercial Photography she worked with, and or contributed to the following publications: 'Trinidad Guardian'; 'Evening News'; 'The New York Courier' in Harlem; the 'Caribbean Page' of the 'Amsterdam News'; 'The Horizon' in Grenada; 'The Trinidad Express'; 'Community News Service' in New York; Caribbean News Agency' (CANA); 'Caribbean Women Features Syndicate' (CWFS); and numerous magazines and promotional publications.

It was during one of her stints in New York she met Earl Chisolm a Journalist who worked for the 'Village Voice' in the late 60's. A relationship ensued and Elma became pregnant, however she turned down his marriage proposal and decided to returned home in 1970 where she gave birth to her youngest child.

Her love for Ancestral History caused her to be involved for over twenty years with the 'Sant Rosa Caribs' the only community of indigenous people in Trinidad and Tobago at that time.  She became their Research Officer and Press/Correspondence Representative, and has had resource papers jointly prepared with archeologist Peter harris, presented at conferences relating to the First Nations of the Western Hemisphere, and published in both Spanish and English.

After retirement Elma Lathuillerie Reyes moved to Port of Spain in 1991 to reside with her late daughter Gabrielle to assist in caring for her twin boys Jean Michel and Francois. During this time she was inspired to put together for publication, some 'edutainment' books she had developed along the child characters "Trini and Toby Heritage Twins". This includes her prize winning alphabet          "A Nature Walk With Trini and Toby" which she originally wrote for her children and "the Clearing In The Forest" (by Key Caribbean Publishing), a book of a collection of children's short stories, created to sensitize children to the beauty of Trinidad & Tobago's forested area, the folklore which relates to it and the need to conserve the environment.

Elma Lathuillerie Reyes developed Bone Cancer in 1998 and after ailing for two years eventually succumbed to the disease on August 25th 2000 at #5 Rosalino Street, Woodbrook which was at the residence of her late daughter Gabrielle at the time.

Elma Mathilda Lathuillerie Reyes - Born 14th march 1935 - Died 25th August 2000