When he first traveled from his native Guadeloupe to visit his aunts on St. Thomas, Jean Dragin was little more than a boy. He spoke no English and he was just beginning to learn the skills that would eventually distinguish a long and varied career.
Yet even as a teen, he recognized opportunity when he saw it. A few years later, he moved to the island.
He doesn’t recall the exact date, but says, “I’m going for 47 to 48 years here.”
Dragin turned 74 in September, and while some people begin to slow around that age, in a lot of ways he’s speeding up.
“I’m pushing more now," he said. "I have so much dream and plan in my head that I want to see before I die.”
In proof, a little later as he led a tour of the property adjacent to his newly opened take-out restaurant, he scrambled up a steep slope to pick some star fruit (or carambola) like a kid, without so much as a teeter.
If you’d like to meet the proverbial self-made man, Jean Dragin is the guy. He’s also well known for his volunteer work, so much so that in February he’ll receive a major award in recognition of his service.
“Since I was a little boy about 12 or 14 years, I used to work with a man who was a baker,” Dragin said. The baker needed help not only in his shop but also with construction projects at his home. It was an informal apprenticeship for Dragin. He began to learn the rudiments of construction, and he took to it quickly.
By the time he moved to St. Thomas, he knew how to operate a bulldozer and he knew a fair amount about a lot of construction. He was limited by his lack of English, but got lucky in meeting a prominent local attorney, the late Everett Birch, who spoke a bit of French. Dragin worked for Birch and his wife for about 10 years.
“I learned from a man from Tortola who was building a stone wall for him,” he said, adding that eventually he picked up enough skill that he was able to finish the job himself.
He also picked up English along the way.
He’s grateful to a long line of workmen and business people who have shared their knowledge with him over the years. His training has been largely the on-the-job variety.
“I learned a lot by myself,” he said. “Whatever I do, I try to do it the best I can. God give us all talent, and I use every bit of it.”
His first attempt at entrepreneurship was not entirely successful. He said he overextended his business and was facing a $100,000 debt. He had to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. To this day, he’s thankful to a federal bankruptcy judge who gave him a second chance. He says he paid off his debt and then built up the business again.
Headquartered on the highway just at the commercial edge of Smith Bay, not too far from where its founder also has his home, Jean Dragin Enterprises is a conglomeration of businesses. There’s construction, sales of specially designed banisters and cistern covers, rental of furniture, a screen shop, safari tours, a guest house, and – most recently – the little restaurant, Chez Jean.
“It’s a little bit of everything,” Dragin said.
What seems like an eclectic mix is actually Dragin’s well-considered response to the needs he sees on island for both visitors and residents. He wants to provide a local experience, and he wants to return a bit of the old-island flavor to St. Thomas.
“When I come here, it was a lot of fun. There was music everywhere.”
He’s clearly hands-on, but also relies on staff. He has his taxi license, for instance, but generally doesn’t drive either of the two custom-made safaris he owns – “I have so much I’m doing, I don’t have time for all that,” he explained. As for the restaurant, he says his role is as chief taster. “They calling me to do the tasting. I’m always finding fault.”
But he’s also very proud of this newest addition, and says, “It’s not only yesterday (it was created.) I’ve been planning.”
Over the years, he’s planted bananas, lime trees, cassava, pigeon peas, and a number of other foods on the acre or so of land behind the restaurant and across the street from it. The idea is to use some of the local products in preparing the menu.
Construction is still his mainstay and Dragin has helped to build many projects on St. Thomas, including some for the government.
He also had more than a little to do with erecting Columbian Hall at the Holy Family Parish in Tutu, and has volunteered work on St. Peter and Paul Cathedral and at Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish. His devotion to Catholic churches on St. Thomas is not limited to building; he’s a mainstay at virtually any fundraising event and says he doesn’t mind begging for his church. His devotion has earned him this year’s Keys and Sword award, which he’ll share with radio personality Addie Ottley; the award will be presented in February.
“I volunteer on everything,” Dragin said – including civic causes and churches of other denominations. “I’m supporting all of them.”
He joined the Lions Club many years ago. He’s not a leader, he said, but “whenever they calling on me, I respond.”
In community service as in business, Dragin seems to have the same motto – to make things the best they can be. He says he has a vision for St. Thomas in general and for Smith Bay in particular.
“It has a lot of opportunity but we don’t take advantage of it,” he said.
Well, many of us don’t. But the Jean Dragins of the world do.
