August 26,1941 - March 11, 2024
Given Herman’s proclivity to oration and his jocular approach to life, in his honor, his obituary was written in the first person, drawing from his own words, based on stories he shared with his loved ones. Some spoken. Some written. Some recorded. All cherished.
I am grateful to have learned from the practices and wisdom imparted to me by my grandparents through their actions and words. One suggestion from Mama, my grandmother Katherine “Katie” Geraldine McLean, was that I should always strive to make a penny today more than what I made yesterday. She suggested that I should always have a business on the side "for the rainy day." Mama practiced what she preached. She always threw a "box hand" and sold the cassava, sweet potatoes, “okroes,” bora, eggplants, tomatoes, and mangoes that we grew on our three-quarters of an acre of land in Berbice, Guyana. I especially loved to eat the small bananas that we call fig. As a boy, I could eat ten to twenty of them in a day. “Box” or “box hand" is the same African-based practice that is known as sou-sou in Trinidad & Tobago. It was the method of savings used by my ancestors to buy our village, Courtland, and three other contiguous villages in Guyana. It was the means by which Mama used to build the house that I grew up in debt-free and pay for her older children to attend private secondary school. Daddy, my grandfather Charles Christopher McLean, worked as an engineer in a gold and diamond mining company in the Cuyuni River area of Guyana after he left his job at Albion Sugar Factory.
Mama always told me to associate with others of like mind. “Mind who you tie bundle with," she would say. Heeding her words, I was always mindful about sharing the plans I wanted to manifest. I was fortunate to begin teaching at my high school, Victoria High, in New Amsterdam, Berbice, just as I turned 17 years old.
Additionally, I cultivated acres of rice for supplemental income. On January 2, 1960, I became the Principal of the Belladrum Village branch of Victoria High School.
After teaching for three years, I entered the British Guiana Civil Service as an Auditor for the next three years until I left for the US to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. My service with the British Guianese Government afforded me six months' leave with pay, as I never took vacation leave, which came in very handy while I was at Howard. Throughout my university studies, I balanced full-time employment with full academic course loads. My indomitable will was nurtured early by my home environment. I was taught to never give up.
Upon graduating college in 1968, I was offered a competitive position in the accounting department at Westinghouse Broadcasting in Pittsburgh. I married Cynthia Maureen Robinson, a woman whose soul shone brightly then and continues to shine brightly now, and eventually transferred to New York City. As our family grew, I pursued further studies at Howard University School of Divinity and NYU Stern School of Business. Always drawn to entrepreneurship, my ventures included owning a deli in the Bronx, a real estate company and a construction company.
Since the 1970s, I was a proud resident of the Village of Hempstead and served Long Island’s Nassau County, the wealthiest county in New York State, as a Budget Analyst in the Office of Management and Budget for several years of my career. Still, my heart remained rooted in my homeland, Guyana, the country of my birth. As my wife Cynthia would say, “In our 55 years of marriage, I see every day how you speak of Guyana.”
I grew up in a Christian household in which my grandmother Katie and my mother Adelaide Nellie Thom were also seers, a term used by Caribbean people to refer to clairvoyants. My mother passed away when I was a toddler. People always said that she would not live long because she was "not of this world,” meaning she was very smart, gifted and mystical. I followed in her footsteps and excelled in my studies and national exams. As my sister Enid remembers, she would say, “Yes, he is like them and always had a knowing.”
My interest in yoga and meditation came as a surprise to some, but in many ways, it was a part of my bloodline. My father James Nathaniel Austin’s mother was born in Chennai, India before moving to Guyana to work. I started exploring meditation, health and wellness and vegetarianism in the 1970s through books and by attending Sri Chinmoy’s meditation sessions at the United Nations, where my wife Cynthia worked. Later, I facilitated meditation groups until I found my way back to my spiritual guide, Paramahansa Yogananda, after reading the Autobiography of a Yogi. Through the practice of Kriya Yoga, I shifted all aspects of my life for the better. For this gift, I am forever grateful. My wife and I started the Hempstead Meditation Circle of Self-Realization Fellowship in our home, where it ran for 28 years. Serving in the group as Service Reader and Treasurer was my greatest honor.
I believe that my family and friends will remember me as a lover of God, Guyana, history, people, learning, cooking and of course, fish, curry, mangoes, and rice. They will remember me as being a humorous risk-taker and a strong-willed dreamer. And I will remember you all with only love.
At age 82, I closed my eyes to this world with my beloved wife “C” by my side. My daughter Malene made sure that I was comfortable in my final moments in my hospital bed. Technology brought my daughters Astra, Sarita and Abhita, my granddaughter Anaïs, my sister Enid and my Hempstead Meditation family Andre, Hazel, Jerry, Rishab, Sally and Wanda to my side. To my sisters Elaine, Evelyn and Enid, my cousins, nieces and nephews, you know exactly how we grew up. You know the love that is there, was there and will always be there. My regards and I can never ever forget our growing up and may love prevail. To the many friends I’ve met throughout my life, thank you for your friendship, companionship, and care. As Mama always said, “Only love. Only love. Only love. Only love. Love thyself. Love God.” And I say, “Aum, Christ, Krishna. Aum, Christ, Krishna. Amen.”
Herman Ashley Fitzgerald Austin, entrepreneur, analyst, orator, dreamer and seer, born August 26, 1941 in Guyana, South America, passed on March 11, 2024 in Mineola, New York.
Private Cremation
Thursday, March 14, 2024
at 11:00 AM
Long Island Cremation Company
91 Eads Street
West Babylon, NY 11704
Memorial
Sunday, April 7, 2024
at 1:00 PM
The New York City Center of Self-Realization Fellowship
217 East 28th Street
New York, NY 10018
212-689-3622