Have you heard of the old Swedish island of Saint Barthelemy? If you have it, it is probably Marius Stakelboroughs merit. By safeguarding the legacy of the past, he has drawn attention of the Swedish heritage, every time a Swede has landed on the island, he has treated the individual as a member of his family. Contacts have been pinned and work to bring out this little exclusive island at every Swedish citizens map. At Marius bar “Le Select” the Swedish heritage is strong; the interior is full of signs, posters, photos and letters related to Sweden.
On the fifth June 1923 Marius was born in a world that seems to be full of problems and setbacks. His parents were not married, they did not even live together, but still, they had two children together. Father Adrien Stakelborough wanted to give his last name to both the children but the mother Yvonne Sibilly had only Marius bear the last name, a decision which has had a significant impact on the island. His Brother Philibert was therefore named Sibilly.
When Marius was five and Philibert two years old, they moved with their mother to Guadeloupe, the children were raised by his grandmother. Their grandmother had a very hard time earning any money so the children were always helping her sell fruit that the farmers had not gotten sold to the ships. In addition, they helped her do the various households that where necessary. They were so poor that it was not often that they were served both lunch and dinner and shoes were a luxury that were used when you went to church. When the end of the months was coming to an end, there was usually zero dollars in the cashbox, then got to rely on letters filled with money from relatives in neighbouring islands so that they could pay the rent.
1929 as Marius began to study, it was a cousin of his father named Vicky who single-handedly started a school for the young children in Gustavia. Vicky was not only a teacher to the children but helped by providing the students who lived too far away from school shelter during school periods. 1932 as Marius took his first communion with black and white students mixed, Marius got his first experiences of racism. Most of the nine year old boys had no experience with people of a different skin colour as they lived on different sides of the island. The controversy was not so strange as it was only 70 years ago slavery ended and the black population was released.
When Marius was ten years old his father Adrien had enough of the teaching that his sons received and he moved Marius and Philibert to a Catholic school that was named Colombia. The school was on the western part of the island, a long hike in other words – without shoes. Three years he stayed at the school until that Marius had achieved all the training that was needed to have on the island. After having helped his grandmother with selling bread for a while, Marius parents decided that he would learn a profession. They sent him to the island where the mother worked in Guadeloupe, where he would begin work as an apprentice carpenter which produced furniture. Something that not at all suited Marius, he wanted out to sea and earn their money as a sailor, and after much nagging his parents agreed to let him work on a boat.
It was soon clear to Marius that working as a sailor was something that suited him perfectly, to work as a team for each other and then share the profits as brothers was something made for him, as he preferred to work with others, not giving out orders and taking a larger slice of the pie. At the same time, it was the job as a sailor something that was filled with fun elements for Marius, all traffic between the islands during this time went with the boats so that each task were always a bit different.
Post came up with the boats and it was to the sailors as the farmers and residents they could sell their goods. The boats were therefore vital for the islands around Saint Barthelemy. Marius earned his living at sea for 16 years with the exception of 20 months during World War II, where he worked as a volunteer for the Americans at a base in Saint Thomas. With only primary school education he learned this profession and when he retired as a sailor he was qualified to work as a captain for the tours between the islands, very impressive for a man who began by taking a position as a mess boy on a ship.
Marius was a man of opportunity, a man with a mind for business, nothing was impossible, and in all his life, he saw opportunities, and not problems or limitations. 1949 was the year Marius opened the now famous bar Le Select on St Barth simply because there was no other on the island before, it was here people went to play dominoes, drink a beer or two and to talk for a while. More and more people came to the bar and quickly Le Select became a meeting place on the island for locals and sailors.
Even if Marius have has his fair share of women in his life, it has really only been one for him – Helene. Their relationship was as something taken from a Hollywood film. Helene’s parents did not appreciate that their daughter, a very bright mulatto met with a three year older negro. So they met on siesta and hid small notes to each other on the beach and when Helene filled the 21 and could decide for herself, she left her parents and move in together with Marius. They had a very hard time and was forced to live in a hut which constantly got invaded by crabs. The bar “Le Select” became their rescue. They were to be together in over 40 years and produce nine children together.
