It is rather difficult to imagine the woman with the slight frame and the white hair walking slowly ahead of me as a fiery independent senator in T&T's Parliament for 15 years. That, however, is exactly what Louise Horne was, from 1976 when she was first chosen by then T&T President Sir Ellis Clarke to 1991 when she officially retired. "You are right on time. I just started some gardening," she says spreading her arms to indicate the rows of potted plants, roses and anthuriums, lining her walkway and placed around her house. She leads me down a narrow hall, hanging on the walls on either side are certificates, awards from several organisations and black and white photographs from a time when colour photos were not an option. She stops and points out a diploma from the University of Edinburgh where she studied dietetics. "I was once responsible for the food at all off the hospitals in the country," she explains. She leads me to a combined living and dining room and insists that I sit wherever comfortable.
When I do, she leaves the room, re-entering with a gold medal given to her by the Dr Eric Williams Memorial Committee. It is a Father of the Nation, medal of Honour. The red, white and black ribbon falls through her fingers. She also shows me a portrait of Williams, also given to her by the memorial committee. My eyes take in my surroundings. She notices. "It's an old house. The furniture is old."
She explains that nothing in the house had changed since she was a young girl, more than 70 years ago. She explains that she was born in that very house in Arima and inherited it from her parents. She shows me old crystal glasses, tablecloths and teapots and wooden furniture over a century old. She points at one particular glass decanter. "My mother would say decent people do not put glass bottles on their dining table," says Horne, smiling at the memory. "The security monitor on the wall of her living room seems out of place. She explains that she used to have break-ins but all that has stopped. The break-ins also explain the barbed wire on the wall and gate. She says she wants to show me something and leads me to the back of the house where there are over a dozen copies of Senate Hansards. Each contribution she made during her three Senate terms are marked. "This is the proof. I'm not just saying I was there, I was there and I talked," she says. Together we look at her first Senate sitting, dated October 12, 1976.
We land on the date November 16, 1976, the Reform Provisions Bill. "I spoke about food for the children. At that time a lot of people didn't have work and that meant no food for families. A lot of people were going hungry at that time," says Horne. We also look at her contributions to the Narcotics Bill and the Births and Death Registration Bill. In her contribution she asks for pension to be increased from $30 to $60. At my raised eyebrow she admits that $60 would seem like a small number now but was not back then. "I grew up in the days when you paid for a seat in the Catholic church," she says. She says she has never regretted not getting married or having a family. "I was in Senate for 15 years. You think married women could do that kind of thing and still take care of the house?" She remembers many specific things about her life, like teaching Lord Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) at Arima Boys' Government School and fending off the advances of American soldiers sent to T&T during World War 11.
She tells me that the few visitors she gets are either people interested in her plants or reporters like myself. There is a woman that comes to help her with her daily chores. She has travelled the world on government trips, naming New Zealand, India, England and most of the Caribbean islands as past destinations. Louise Horne is 100-years-old and she has contributed decades of her life to T&T.
She started the national school feeding programme, though she can't recall what year. One of the many certificates on her wall shows that she was involved with the Coterie of Social Workers, providing free meals to children. She received the Medal of Merit (Gold) in 1972 and has published a book on The Evolution of Modern T&T. She says it is important to know the beginning of our problems in order to solve them.
