The Man I Love And Me: From the Caribbean to Carmel Forty Years of - Family, Faith & Fortitude
- [United States of America] CreateSpace 2015
- xii, 269 p. illus.
The Man I Love & Me (TMILAM) is a biographical memoir of the scintillating admiration and dynamic relationship which flourished between a father and a son within the context of a Caribbean family and its interaction with a wider world culture. It delves into family customs and trials, religion, politics, business, economics, humor, love and grief, education, and a panoply of emotions and situations.
Willis Burris is an international man: by vision and experience. He is a Caribbean born accountant, economist, educator and now the author of his first non-fiction book, The Man I Love & Me. Willis is one of ten children from the union of Anderson Burris and Augustina (John) Burris, birthed and raised in Tobago. As a young boy, he accepted a previously unknown religion along with the other members of his family. Willis was first educated at the village primary school before attending high school at the most prestigious institute on the island. In high school, he focused his studies primarily on scientific subjects and literature. While at Bishop’s High School, he became the head prefect, head cadet officer, and captain of Bowles House, one of the student-body’s four challenge groups. Willis was also a talented cricketer throughout elementary and high school. After brief stints with a state utility company and a leading commercial bank in Tobago, Willis moved to Trinidad to work for a family-owned company. He then studied Advanced Level Economics and reoriented his academic efforts on accounting, economics and business management. In 1987, Willis migrated to the United States of America (USA) to attend York College in New York, graduating in 1990. After college, Willis worked in Manhattan as a corporate accountant and later married Jamaican born educator, Beverley March. He then completed a Master of Business Administration degree at Pace University. After a few more years of living and working in the USA, Beverley and Willis migrated to Israel for five years, where he again worked in high level accounting, finance and investment management. The couple returned to the United States in 2002, first settling in Georgia and then Illinois, where Willis was an Assistant Controller of accounting. Seeking a warmer climate, they later moved to the “Sunshine State” of Florida in 2007, where he worked as a Corporate Controller of financial operations. In 2009, Willis fulfilled a life-long dream and entered the field of education. He was selected “Rookie Teacher of the Year” after his first year of teaching by the Seminole County Public Schools Board, in Florida, an “A” rated school district. Willis also holds a diploma in education for grades K-12 (kindergarten through twelfth grade), with four subject area specialties. He currently resides near Orlando, Florida with his wife Beverley.