Gombey Festival Honouree, 2021 honouree, honoured on October 8, 2022
Willis “Oldman” Ondray Steede was born on June 24, 1959 with the Gombey drums humming in his heart, and took his last dance on October 4, 2019. He joined the Warner Gombey Troupe in December 1974 under Llewellyn “Termite” Warner and Allan Warner. After much training, Willis was given the approval to officially perform for the first time on Easter Monday in 1975. And it was official – he was a proud Gombey teen, and performed as a dancer for the rest of his years.
He became fascinated by Gombey history, and investigated the lineage of the Warner’s Group: before Allan Warner, Llewellyn “Termite” Warner held the group, which he inherited from Francis Llewellyn Spencer “Merry Mice” Darrell, along with a few others. Merry Mice had inherited Charles “Boxcart” Norford’s Gombey traditions from John Warner, and so Willis dug deeper before Boxcart’s Gombeys to the history connecting the Bermuda Gombey to St. Kitt’s and Nevis and further beyond to West African tradition. This was a passion that he shared with Allan Warner, and the elders of the Warner Gombeys were very close knit, a real family.
Over the years, “Oldman” held many positions in the Warner Gombeys: scout, bowman, co-captain and eventually Captain. The Warner Gombeys traveled extensively to promote Bermuda and share the Gombey culture, including across the USA, St. Kitt’s and Nevis, Germany, and Switzerland. Willis also represented Bermuda in groups created combining several troupes, showcasing his talent as one of Bermuda’s best Gombey dancers.
Willis and the elders of the Warner Gombey Troupe were adamant that even the youngest of the family tribe learn their Gombey heritage, and also how much they could share with those outside of the tradition. This enabled even the youngest to do interviews under the watchful eye of an elder. Oldman was extremely proud of his son Willis Junior (affectionately known as baby Willis) at age 6 years old and troupe member Marcus Tucker at age 5 being interviewed during the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2001 in Washington, DC with the Department of Culture. This careful curation and preservation of history remains an indelible part of the legacy of the elders of The Warner Gombeys.
Willis was instrumental during his captaincy in helping to produce new routines and choreography, but remained committed to preserving the history of the dance and its intentions. Whether in-or-out of a suit, Willis was a Gombey, he loved to perform. A veteran employee of the City of Hamilton, he was known affectionately as “Mr. Front Street” and often danced for tourists arriving or leaving by ship while donning his City uniform. His Gombey suits, however, were lovingly crafted by his wife Kathy Steede, and imbued with meaning from his research into the origins of Gombey culture, while he made his own hat and mask to match.
Willis was a team player: he believed in the concept of the troupe as family and honoured the support and confidence that the elders placed in him. Moreover, he was humbled by the trust that families of his young Gombeys had in him as a teacher and mentor. Willis, Allan Warner, and Hubby Brown would sometimes meet with people wanting to establish their own Gombey groups twice a week for a month or two to help train them in the beat and dance. While dancing Gombeys is not a lucrative passion, Willis was known to help troupe members or a family struggling by supporting them with his earnings from the ground. Many of today’s great Gombeys came from out of Warner Gombeys, and while if Oldman was with us he would not have wanted to take any of the credit, those that came from Warner Gombeys that have formed their own groups nominated him for this honour.
Willis “Oldman” Steede performed with the Warner Gombey troupe until 2015. In 2015, Gombey Evolution was created in-part by his son Willis Junior, who continues to drum out the heartbeat that his father taught him, so that the dance may carry forever on.
