Francis Horton (TC58)
Wednesday 16 April 2025
A PORTION OF THE STORY OF MY LIFE SINCE TETTENHALL COLLEGEFrancis L. M. Horton, Sr. (Chu-Chu)MY FAMILYI certainly never dreamed that one day the opportunity would present itself for me to write my life’s story although this is a rather short version. I will begin by introducing my deceased parents, Reverend Dr. Daniel Richard and Mother Dr. Ora Milner Horton, missionaries who founded several churches in Liberia and Sierra Leone, along with a conference of churches called the Liberian Direct Baptist Missionary Conference and a Bassa Brotherhood Industrial and Benefit Society which is the empowerment arm of the ministry. They naturalized in Liberia. Their union was blessed with three sons and two daughters: Romeo, Ruth, Danlette, Stephen, and Francis (Chu-Chu). Romeo was married to Mary Eliza Cooper, their children are: Shepherd, Nuna, Renee, and Romelle. Danlette was married to Stephen Tolbert, Stephen was married to Dixine Carter, He had nine children, Ora, Stephanie, Daniel, Stephen, Glacier, Wilma, Harold, Eric, and Guy. Later, Stephen married Valerie Dickson. I was first married to McRinna Deshield (deceased). I am presently married to Augusta Sirleaf Horton, and we have four children: Kimberly, Sara Laurine Mansanu, Francis Leo, Jr., and Diana Ora. Two of my children, Daniel Richard, and Richelieu, are deceased. I am the only surviving child of my parents.My elder brother and sister were both sent to America after graduating high school to Morehouse and Spelman Colleges respectively. Our parent’s plan for my brother Stephen and I, was to achieve a strong educational foundation. Therefore, after completing elementary school at the Bassa Community Morning School, founded by our mother, we continued our studies at Albert Academy in Sierra Leone, and thereafter, in 1956, we were enrolled in Tettenhall College, Staffordshire, England. My father had graciously promised us a world tour and therefore, we began our journey to England via ship from Monrovia, to Tenerife, the Canary Islands, on to Cadiz, a province of Southern Spain, and on to Barcelona in Northern Spain. From Barcelona we travelled by train to Paris, then to Calais, France, where we ferried across the English Channel to Dover. We traveled by train from Dover to London where we visited several famous historical sites. TETTENHALL COLLEGE After such an exciting and educational journey, we arrived at Tettenhall College the last week of March 1956. Our parents met with the Headmaster, Mr. Fred Fieldhyde, to ensure that we would enter before the students returned from their Easter break and to establish the appropriate classes for each of us. It was a bit of an adjustment period as the school environment was quite different and the weather colder than we were accustomed to. It was interesting to see how the students responded to the first African students at their school. I must admit that during my stay at Tettenhall, I hardly experienced any direct discrimination. Although I cannot adamantly claim that there were no discriminatory comments made behind our backs because we experienced being called names like sambo, blackie and so many other derogatory names when walking in the different communities. One must remember that in the fifties there was a high migration from the British Colonies in Africa and the Caribbean whose populations were rather estranged and unfamiliar to the average British citizen. The first student who came over to greet us and who has remained my best friend until today, is Roger Ashton. Both Roger and his lovely wife Chris have been very kind and hospitable to my wife and I through the years. Another student that I became close to is David Sumberg, who, after Tettenhall, became a lawyer, a member of Parliament, and a member of the European Community Parliament. When my wife and I went to England during the 1989 civil war in Liberia, David helped us by writing the British Prime Minister who in turn wrote the Home Secretary recommending me highly as his former school mate and helping us obtain resident permits rather than refugee status which specifically denies one from traveling back to their homeland. My wife, Augusta and I are forever honored and grateful. David also arranged a visit to Westminster for us along with my eldest brother Romeo, who was visiting while the House of Parliament was in session. He did the same when Roger and Chris came to visit while we were in London. Dennis Woodward is another good friend whom I spent time with at Tettenhall. His family operated a dairy and animal farm and during the Christmas break, I would help on the farm since I planned to study agriculture. Some of my other schoolmate friends were: Hilton, who loved to play the trumpet, Owen who had a passion for photography, Jenkins who had a calling to become a police officer, and Harrow, whom I am sure became an officer in the Royal Air Force. There were also several prefects who were kind and helpful to me as were most of the teachers. I also participated in tennis, basketball, cricket, rugby, and hockey to name a few of my extra-curricular activities. Unfortunately, after less than a year at Tettenhall, Stephen got ill and had to leave for home. I was sad without my big brother. However, I made up my mind that I would stick it through. It was then that the strong moral and Christian values that my parents had instilled in me, became most relevant, and I completed Form Four. Tettenhall College, is a well-disciplined, academically excellent, and high-rated institution, whose purpose is focused on molding men (and now women), to become responsible future leaders. I certainly give gratitude to God for those outstanding teachers who took into consideration that I was a stranger, and purposed to ensure that I was fully acclimated to the academic rigor of the school and life in England; thus, providing me with a well-grounded, and sound secondary education. I realize now that my time at Tettenhall was a profound nurturing period in my adolescent years and one of the best periods of my life. Tettenhall certainly helped to mold and shape me for achieving all that I have accomplished in life. The Tettenhall motto: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” remains in my mind and spirit and I have tried during my life to abide by their moral principle of “honesty is the best policy.” May God bless Tettenhall College!THE UNIVERSITY OF LIBERIA (UL)After I left England, my plan was to go to Atlanta, Georgia in the United States and enroll at Morehouse College, which was the alma mater of both my father and elder brother, Romeo. However, my mother, whose intuition as an educator and a nationalist, felt that because all my high school education was British, I should first register at the University of Liberia to familiarize myself with the American educational system, which is the same in Liberia. Her other argument was, my brother Stephen and I, like a lot of Liberian youths, were sent to schools abroad at an early age and in turn, they lost their cultural identity. I registered at UL with the belief that after a year I would apply to Morehouse College. However, interestingly, my mother and father, felt that after I had successfully completed the first year, with a very high-grade point average, I should continue at UL, and after, I could go to America for my Masters. Although disappointed, I must confess that studying at the University of Liberia was one of the best decisions I could have made. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a minor in Botany. Nevertheless, during that time, I then had the opportunity to become more familiar with my native land, which made it possible for me to deal with the social, political, and economic, changes that began occurring in the 1970s and emanated into the April 12, 1980, Military Coup d’état. Ironically, my dream to continue my education in the field of agriculture, was soon squashed because after graduation, my brother Romeo asked me, to join him at the Bank of Liberia, founded by our family. Romeo was president of the bank. He told me that he was the only member of the family at the Bank and that our father and mother’s children had the responsibility to ensure that the bank fulfilled its mission and objectives. He was very definitive by saying, that: “On Monday of the following week, I expect to see you in the bank to start your training.”This caused a major readjustment to my plans of pursuing a masters in agriculture and taking over the management of our father’s farm where he grew rubber and food crops and raised a variety of animals. I now found myself in a new career path, and of all the possible related professions that could have been connected to agriculture, it certainly was not banking. The question I then posed to my brother was, “how would I now readjust from studying agriculture?” My brother gave what I consider a very profound answer. He said, “in banking, you will learn the techniques of management, which eventually will prepare you. The new banking approach to preparing executives for a banking career was that once a person had a degree, regardless of the discipline, that person could be trained and educated in the fundamentals of banking in theory and practice.” He promised that he would arrange for me to attend the Specialized Executive Officers Banking Course at the Chemical Bank in New York, USA.BANK OF LIBERIA (1962-1981)My brother Romeo spoke so convincingly that I showed up on Monday to start my training in the loan department. The Bank of Liberia offered various products and services, and my training was most rewarding which made it easier for me when I matriculated for the Executive Officer Training and acquired certification in Foreign Banking, Credit, and basic Operations. I remained at Bank of Liberia, where my family owned the majority shares, after first serving as Manager of the Foreign Department, Vice President of Credit, and a member of the Board of Directors, until the bank was closed by the 1980 military coup d’état, which also resulted in my being brutally attacked with bruises on my face and lips. Also, my wife and children were in the house while the soldiers were shooting with one of the shots barely skinning my wife’s arm. It was then that I decided to step out of the house in consideration of protecting my family from any harm. The soldiers took me to the post stockade where I was incarcerated for ten days. After my release when they really could not find handy issues, and with the bank closed and having nothing to do, after weighing the unfavorably national consequences that could exist, I decided to take over running our eight hundred acres of rubber farm which had been restricted during the military coup.I will close by saying, despite the obstacles and hardships, in many ways, our lives fared rather well because of God’s unfailing grace and mercy. With political activities commencing in 1984, the National Democratic Party of Liberia solicited me to serve as Vice Chairman. In 1985, after the party won the elections, the government invited me to serve as Chairman of the National Investment Commission of Liberia, and subsequently as Deputy Government of the National Bank/Central Bank of Liberia until the civil war in December 1989, which brought an end to the government and the displacement of so many people including my wife and I. Prayerfully, we traveled to the United Kingdom on a government mission which never materialized. I remained there with my wife until I was employed by Stephen Betts and Sons of Birmingham to make contacts for their gold jewelry business in Africa. Which I did until my wife and I left in September 1994, for the United States to seek employment with the United Bank of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I served at the bank as a Vice President until the bank was downsized and I was offered a severance to be declared one of those redundant. With the political climate in Liberia being somewhat stable, I returned to Liberia in 1998 and was fortunate to obtain a consultancy with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Microfinance, and subsequently a consultancy in the Gambia by the UNDP, where I remained for five years until my return to Liberia to serve as president of the First International Bank of Liberia. I served first as Chairman of the Board and then for two and a half years, as the President of the bank.Presently, in our retirement years, my wife Augusta and I have been dividing our time by living in the United States and in Liberia. We normally spend longer periods in the USA with our children and grandchildren. I remain grateful to God and my parents for the time I was fortunate to spend at Tettenhall College. I am convinced that the academic rigor and overall experience gained during my secondary school years, appropriately molded my mindset affording me with the ability to cope with the varied indispensable challenges of life. May Tettenhall Hall College live on! I sincerely believe that the future of mankind rests on the realization that God is the beginning and the ending.