The Wagner Family (Editorial note: This entry is another that resulted neither from an interview nor from an obituary. It is based upon a book recently published by Mabel Wagner called “Lest I Forget: The Wagner Family, Pioneers of Trellis Bay, Beef Island, BVI”. It was produced by LifeStory Publishing in Orlando, Florida. It was published in 2012 (although this is hard to tell from the volume itself).“Lest I Forget” is the story of Wladek and Mabel Wagner’s lives in the Virgin Islands. Between 1949 and 1958 this couple (and their two children) acted as Charter yachts-people in the Caribbean, but more importantly for this missive, began the present-day development of Trellis Bay. Although this story does not fit my “model” of a twenty year time investment in the Virgin Islands by the ‘actors’ in the story, the Wagners’ impact upon the Trellis Bay area makes them worthy of inclusion as “BVI Builders”. And in many ways, it could be argued, they accomplished more in ten years than others did in twenty.The couple came from Poland and Scotland and were brought together by the Second World War. Originally planning to go to Australia, they decided to live part of their lives in the Caribbean, and after a short time chartering out of St. Thomas they moved to the British Virgin Islands in 1949, and began construction on land they purchased at then quite isolated Trellis Bay. This included buildings, a shipyard with a famous, now long-gone, marine railway that they moved to Trellis Bay from Charlotte Amalie (followed by a later replacement), a saw mill, beach cottages, a Clubhouse on Bellamy Cay (now the “Last Resort”), and an airstrip that grew to become the Terrence B. Lettsome International Airport. The Bay had been devoid of recent human impact until their arrival, and thus what we see there today is a direct descendent of the Wagner’s efforts. “Lest I forget” clearly demonstrates the challenges, trials, and tribulations that existed for people coming to ‘build’ the new global economy of the Virgin Islands, often with few resources to their name, and how these challenges were met. The Wagner family ‘moved on’ in 1958. Trellis Bay had been changed forever, and the Wagner family went on to new adventures.
I will not go into more detail here but simply encourage readers to buy and read the book. It is a great and well written ‘read’ and should be read by all students of the historical geography of the Virgin Islands. You can buy it in Trellis Bay at Aragorn’s Studio, or (in U.S. $ only please) from:
Mabel Wagner
2539 Leeward Way
Winter Park,
Florida 32792 USA
Email: mabswag@gmail.comDraft of December 18th, 2012
