Up Front
Three prominent citizens onQueen's Honour Roll Fiveto receive Certificate and Badge of Honour
Above from left: Capt.Mabry Kirkconnell, MBE, OBE Mr David Arch, MBE Detective SuperintendentKendrick Hall, CPM Mrs. Avernell 'Zenie' Scott
Above from left: Mrs.Anita Ebanks, Mr. Anthony 'Weddie' Connolly, Mr. Floyd McCarneyBush, Mrs. Vernicia Watler.
Her Majesty the Queen has recognised threeprominent members of the Caymanian community in the 2001 Queen'sNew Year's Honours List.
Speaker of the House, the Hon. Captain MabryKirkconnell, MBE, JP, has been made an Officer of the Order ofthe British Empire, while Commandant of the Cayman Islands SpecialConstabulary, Mr David Arch, has been made a Member of the BritishEmpire.
Superintendent Kendrick Hall has been awardedthe Colonial Police Medal for meritorious service.
In addition, His Excellency the Governor,Mr Peter Smith, CBE, has awarded five residents with the CaymanIslands Certificate and Badge of Honour. Mrs Avernell Scott ofCayman Brac is being recognised for business acumen that has benefitedthe Sister Islands, and Ms Anita Ebanks for her sterling contributionto Caymanian society and culture.
Mrs. Vernicia Watler, Mr Floyd Bush andMr. 'Weddie' Anthony Connolly are being recognised for their servicesto the community.
Sixty-nine-year-old Capt. Mabry, whose awardis for his long and distinguished service to the Public Sector,was born in Tampa, Florida, to Cayman Brac parents, Capt. Mosesand Mrs. Alvernie Kirkconnell.
In 1950 he entered the Lamar State Collegeof Technology in Texas, where he received a certificate in clinicallaboratory technology and in 1954, a Bachelor of Science degreein medical technology.
That same year, he was drafted into theUS Army as a battalion aid station commander. He also became amember of the medical corps. After his tour of duty, Capt. Mabryjoined the family's shipping business, which was founded by hisgrandfather, Walter Aaron Kirkconnell in 1896. It was the CaymanIslands' first shipping company, and it served North, South andCentral America, as well as the Caribbean.
In 1967, Capt. Mabry joined the Cayman BracPower and Light Company, managing it for about 12 years beforelaunching his successful bid for a seat in the egislative Assembly(LA) in 1980. Though he retired from public office, yet stillCapt. Mabry was recently returned as the Speaker of the House.
He credits his family with giving him afirm foundation of support and encouragement. "I appreciatethe discipline of my parents, who taught me to respect authority,"Capt. Mabry says. "And my wife, Marilyn (nee Parchman) hasbeen very supportive and a loyal spouse. I think life would havebeen more difficult without the strength of my family behind me."
During his 20-odd years of service in theLA, his relatives always encouraged him to do whatever he thoughtwas right, Capt. Mabry says, even when things became tense inthe Legislative Assembly.
Now, despite his retirement, Capt. Mabrystill plans to do what is right - and for him, that means stayinginvolved in public service. "To paraphrase an old war song,old politicians never die," he says. "They just fadeaway."
Mr Arch, whose award is for 'Life-long Commitmentto Public Service for the Community', has headed the Special ConstabularyForce since its inception in 1981 as part of preparations forthe visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II the following year.
Following the Queen's visit, during whichthe Special Constabulary proved so useful in matters of crowdcontrol and security, it was decided to keep a regular force ofvolunteers on standby to assist the police.
While special constables are required tosupport police operations on occasions such as the Queen's BirthdayParade and Pirates Week, they are also responsible for volunteeringtheir time to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service on otheroccasions.
As Commandant of the constabulary, Mr. Arch'sresponsibilities include recruiting and scheduling, duties thatmake him particularly sensitive to the fact that the initial forceof 100 volunteers has now dwindled to slightly more than 60. Heacknowledges that is difficult for the public to regularly volunteerthe hours that are demanded of a special constable.
A homebuilder for the past three decades,Mr. Arch is a charter member and past president of the Lion'sClub. He also served for 17 years on the Hotels Aid Board, and10 on the Central Planning Authority, including seven as chairman.
In the late 80s, he worked with DerringtonMiller and Donovan Ebanks to establish the Young Caymanian Businessmen'sAssociation (YCBA), an organisation which was to work closelywith the commissioners who conducted the constitutional reviewof the early 90s.
Mr. Arch says he particularly enjoyed workingwith the YCBA to help develop young Caymanians' interest in thecountry's political governance. Another organisation that hascome to mean a great deal to him is the Caymanian ContractorsAssociation, of which he is a founding member and past president.
Mr. Arch juggles his hectic schedule withthe demands of family life. The George Town resident and his wifeElizabeth (Bessie) have five children and are the proud grandparentsof five.
Detective Superintendent Hall, whose recognitionis for meritorious service to the RCIP, is Second in Charge ofthe Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which covers seriouscrimes, fraud, commercial crime, and scenes-of-crime.
In addition, the CID's Interpol Collatorsexchange intelligence on criminal activities and the Special Branchmanages internal and external security.
Describing his years in policing as "aprivilege given to me, and reflective of my background and heritage,"Supt. Hall notes that many relatives, including his grandfather,uncles and cousins, served for many years in the police and prisonservices of his native Barbados.
Referring to his own RCIP career, he pinpointsas a highlight, his re-opening and solving of two local murdercases which had earlier been reviewed and closed by Scotland Yarddetectives.
Detective Superintendent Hall arrived inGrand Cayman in 1971, in the third and final batch of young officersrecruited from Barbados. Over the years, he has served in theuniformed and plain-clothes sections of the RCIP.
In addition, he has contributed much - bothprofessionally and personally - as a member of the Child ProtectionMulti-Disciplinary team which was formed in the 1980s and hasmade similar efforts with the more recent Domestic Violence team,currently in training for a large-scale national programme.
Another of Mr. Hall's achievements was thedrafting of the RCIP's Domestic Violence Policy. Such effortshave also been coupled with continuous local and overseas trainingin areas as diverse as hostage negotiation, drug enforcement andcivil disturbance.
Serving in other capacities too, Supt. Hallhas chaired the Police Welfare Committee, has been a board memberfor the Police Association, and has been a member of the Law EnforcementTorch Run Committee for the Special Olympics. He has likewisemanaged participants in the World Police and Fire Games.
In addition to developing his career, thesuperintendent has kept busy with family and community concerns.Now divorced, he is the father of two grown daughters, Nicoleand Melissa. In his spare time, he particularly enjoys participatingin and coaching sports. Cricket is now Supt. Hall's game of choiceand he currently captains the Deloitte and Touche cricket tam.In the past, he also captained and coached the RCIP football team,has played on their cricket team, and has served as a footballreferee and coach to a variety of teams.
However, while civic involvement standsas a solid cornerstone of his life, Detective Superintendent Hall'scentral commitment focuses on ensuring that Cayman remains safefor its visitors and investors. Even more, he seeks safety forthose who live and grow up here - especially for children suchas his grand-daughter, Nicioa Maxwell, who spends her holidayshere.
From a humble sailor's daughter, 'Ms Zenie'as Mrs Scott is called by Brackers, has developed into her presentstatus as respected matriarch, community benefactor and ownerof the island's largest commercial development company - ScottDevelopment.
Starting as a small grocery store, the familybusiness has evolved over the years into a large-scale developmentcompany. It now encompasses a fleet of heavy equipment, includinga cement block machine, rock crushers, trucks and loaders, allto tackle the limestone in two Bluff quarries and a third on LittleCayman.
'Ms Zenie' was born in 1915, the daughterof the late Robert Foster ('Capt. Bertie') Clifton and motherHulda (nee Bodden). The family of four sisters and four brotherswere raised in the last phase of Cayman Brac's era of isolation,when sailing vessels were still the only means of communicationwith, and of transportation to, the outside world.
At 18, she was betrothed to a sea captain- Clyde Ewart, "but not before he had built a home to putme in, for that was the custom in my day," she reminisced.Together, they opened a small family store (in 1938), and "didwhat we had to do to survive," including selling essentialproducts and helping the community by extending credit and providingfor those in need.
Their mini-market in West End sold and tradedeverything from thatch rope and lamp oil to dry and tinned goods,she recalled. The young Scott children assisted their parentsby stocking the shelves while 'Ms. Zenie' worked closely withher husband. She took over the business full-time when he fellinto a long illness in the 1970s.
In time, the couple's nine children weresent to further their education in the United States, where theyeventually settled and raised families of their own. Five of themhave since returned to Cayman Brac, bringing with them new generationsof Scotts. The Scott family tree now includes 27 grandchildren,17 great-grands and several great-great-grand children
Now 85, 'Ms. Zenie' still signs companycheques and together with her children, who now control the operations,continues to make decisions regarding the business. Her only hindranceis a lack of mobility. And, while she misses some interactionwith neighbours, she still meets many who fondly recall and sharereminiscences of childhood. Otherwise, 'Ms. Zenie' relaxes whileenjoying the ocean view from the dining room of the house builtby her children in 1974.
When she was 15 months old, Ms Ebanks' parentspacked the family bags and flew away from the simple life in Cayman,into the bubbling melting pot that was New York City in the early1950s. After a childhood infusion into the cultures of New YorkCity and later, Jamaica, at age seven, her family moved back tothe Rock.
That's when she began experiencing her nativeculture -including listening to folk stories, walking into thebush to get mangoes, backing water for the household and lookingfor pirates' gold.
Now the Director of the Cayman Islands Museum,Ms Ebanks wants to educate people that Cayman indeed has a richheritage.
Born in George Town to the late Mr. AlbertNathan Ebanks and Mrs. Georgette Ebanks, Ms Ebanks attended theTriple 'C' School, following which she received a church grantto attend Iowa's Graceland University, where she undertook socialstudies and sociology and graduated in 1975.
Upon returning to Grand Cayman, she workedbriefly for what is now the National Council of Volunteer Organisations(NCVO), before becoming a social studies teacher at the Governmenthigh school. "I always tried to introduce more of our localhistory and culture into those classes," she says, notingthat although the curriculum included West Indian history, itleaned heavily toward European and American civilisation.
She later left the island to pursue a coursein library studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI).There, aided by the school's research library, "I began diggingup whatever I could about Cayman's history," Ms Ebanks recalls.
Her 25-year career with the civil servicecommenced with her return to Cayman and the preservation of heritageand the nourishing of culture have always been key aspects ofher posts with various ministries.
Ms. Ebanks spent some six years laying thegroundwork for the Islands' first museum and has been its soledirector since it opened to the public in 1990.
Since then, she has attended numerous conferencesand workshops relating to her work and is affiliated with severalprofessional museum associations concerned with culture and thepreservation of history.
In addition to her work with the museum,her hobbies reflect her love of culture. These include reading,travelling, "some photography" and pottery, togetherwith a keen interest in the performing arts. Along with MLA Dr.Frank McField and others in the late 1970s, Ms Ebanks was a foundingmember of Inn Theatre, which evolved into the National CulturalFoundation.
Her theatre experience gave her the opportunityto travel to the Eastern Caribbean, where her appreciation forregional culture grew. "We're close to North America andof course we have ties to England, so we are bombarded with theirideas," Ms Ebanks explains. "But the Caribbean heritage!To see the talent we have! It makes me feel so proud that Caymanis part of that rich culture," she says, smiling.
"That is what the public should understand- that just like all societies, we do have a history and culture,"she asserts. "But it also should be understood that cultureisn't static. It's ever changing. Down the road our museum exhibitswill have to reflect this, including the new immigrants and thecontributions that they have made."
Ms Ebanks notes that over the years, theprofile of cultural preservation has been raised, which is a trendshe welcomes. "People have given us thousands upon thousandsof artefacts, and they are just waiting to be shown," shesays. "As part of the museum's function, we should preserveand collect these items.
"But if they aren't shown to the public,then in some ways the pieces are still lost. We use every bitof space we have to show exhibits that interest residents as wellas visitors, so that we may better understand what Cayman is allabout. We are so much more than sand, sea and sun, and the museumhelps us find and keep that balance."
Mrs. Vernicia Watler's life has been oneof extensive contribution to the Cayman Islands. As far back asshe can recall, Mrs Watler said, her dedication and active commitmentto Caymanian people and their culture has always been evident."I have always been busy," she said.
A Justice of the Peace (JP), Mrs. Watlerwas born in East End in December 1934, the daughter of JuliusRankine and Adena McLaughlin. She has continued to live therethroughout her life and in 1992, few were surprised when she waselected chairman of the East End District National Trust.
During her working years, Mrs. Watler hasheld several jobs, her first being with the thatch rope industry.This was followed by stints as a teacher, secretary, and waitress.She has also worked at the Post Office and Agricultural and AuditDepartments, from where she retired in 1997.
The wife of retired Customs Officer, Mr.Trevor Watler, she is also the mother of four, a fact which ledto a prolonged and active involvement in the Parent Teachers'Association (PTA). The Chamber of Commerce acknowledged her effortsin 1992 when she was honoured for 21 years of service to the PTA.Working with and on behalf of children, she says, continues tobring her immense enjoyment.
There have been many awards for the ceaselessefforts to help the community. In 1987, she was recognised bythe Education Department for her work as an assistant teacher.A scout leader for over 40 years, in 1992, the Jamaica ScoutingAssociation honoured her 'for effort and achievement', and againin 1999, Mrs. Watler was awarded the Silver Crocodile, a highhonour that can be bestowed upon a scout.
Of these tributes she says simply: "Whenwe were doing what had to be done, we weren't thinking about awards."However, despite her modesty, she does admit that her biggestreward comes when the lives of the people with whom she comesinto contact are clearly touched.
Further testament to Mrs. Watler's communityinvolvement is revealed by a glance at the committees and organisationson which she serves. She is Secretary for both the Christian EndeavourSociety and the Woman's Fellowship, in Gun Bay, Treasurer of theGrand Cayman Woman's Fellowship Council, and Justice of the Peacefor Juvenile Court.
She was also Treasurer (1995 - 1998) forthe Justices of the Peace Association. In 1999, she was made Secretary/Treasurerof the same association. Recently, Mrs. Watler was honoured bythe Cayman National Cultural Foundation 'for her preservationof traditional Caymanian Dance, namely the quadrille and plaitpole'.
Speaking of dance and culture, Mrs Watlersaid: "These are things we have to nurture through the passageof time and that is why I do what I do." She adds that whenshe is in her 'one-door condo (casket)', she would like to knowthat she has helped to perpetuate Cayman's culture for futuregenerations.
Mr. Floyd McCarney Bush is being awardedfor his community work, particularly with Grand Cayman's youth.
Currently, Mr. Floyd helps to coach threesoccer teams. He is working with the Future Club and has 32 playersin Future Boys, ages nine to 14; and 16 in Future Girls with playersfrom primary through high school. He also supervises both boysand girls on the John A. Cumber Primary School squad.
A goalkeeper and wicket keeper in his youth,Mr. Floyd went on to spend 20 years at sea, a factor that neverdampened his enthusiasm for sport. "When the seamen camehome, we'd get together and play games. We never had anythingand had to work together to make fields," Mr Floyd recalls.A love of soccer runs in his family, and he still uses and caresfor the soccer nets his cousin, Ed Bush, gave to John A. CumberPrimary School.
After retiring from sea and taking a positionwith Cayman Water Company, Mr. Floyd began spending his free timehelping with the John Gray Memorial Church youth group and theWest Bay Heritage Day and Community Development Action committees- and the soccer teams.
His proudest moments are soccer-related.For example, for the past two years he has helped chaperone first27 children, then 30 more last year, to soccer camp in Florida.Management at both the camp and the hotel complimented the childrenon their good behaviour. He is also pleased when former players,who are now police officers, customs officers, or bank employees,smile and call him 'Coach Floyd' or 'Uncle Floyd'. "It givesme a good feeling, knowing that these young people passed throughmy hands," he says.
Known for treating players to pizza or burgersafter a game, Mr. Floyd frequently provides hugs and rides hometoo. He believes he has turned young people around with love."I do what I do with a little touch of love. It's all thechildren need, but it has to be genuine," he stresses. "Childrenknow when it's not," he said.
He also serves as a Justice of the Peaceon the juvenile court, and this voluntary service often causeshim pain since he frequently knows the children and their families'circumstances.
Mr Floyd is now a maintenance supervisorof fields with the Government's Sports Office and is gratefulfor being the recipient of the Islands' highest honour for communityservice. Yet he still makes a plea: "We don't have enoughpeople working with the youth. We need more." He hopes otheradults will hear and heed.
'Self-effacive' and 'disciplinary' are perhapsthe two words that best sum up Cayman Islands' Certificate andBadge of Honour recipient, Mr W. Anthony 'Weddie' Connolly's approachto community service.
While some might say these qualities representan old-style Caymanian civic-mindedness, others would argue thatMr. Connolly's work with local youth, putting country before self,was, instead, a timeless virtue.
A Justice of the Peace and Notary Publicfor the past 11 years, Mr. Connolly has, for the same length oftime, served as a Juvenile Court Justice. The weekly roster ofJPs calls for three Justices to try juvenile cases each Friday.
Acknowledging that the role of Justice involvesmore than sentencing, Mr Connolly visits the young people thathe sees in Court when they are in detention and he also follows-upon their cases with the Social Services Department.
Of his efforts in this arena, Mr Connollyexplains: "It hits you close to home. So much so that I tryto work as closely with young people as I can, both in and outof the Court. As a Justice, and as a concerned citizen, it seemsto me that what our youth most need is counselling; someone topay attention to them; encourage them, and get them back on theright track."
He has only praise for the dedication ofhis fellow Justices, and notes that many have served on the JuvenileCourt for longer than he has.
Outside the Court-room, Mr Connolly sayshe also works with young people in the community, an activitythat provides him with additional focus. "Prevention is important.If we can prevent our youth from becoming offenders or repeatoffenders, then we will have achieved something. I tend to takethe perspective that 'there but for the grace of God go I.
"Without a strong family background,it is conceivable that I myself could have ended up in a similarsituation. So I feel it is essential for me to lend a hand tothose less fortunate," he said.
In addition to his JP duties, Mr. Connollyhas, for the past 12 years, dedicated Tuesday afternoons to thework of Government's Public Service Commission (PSC), the bodythat deals with civil service personnel and recruitment matters.Over the years, he has also served on the Boards of various otherpublic sector organisations, including the Agricultural and IndustrialDevelopment Bank, the Central Tenders Committee and the LabourAppeals Board.
Mr. Connolly's strong commitment to countryis also reflected in his attitude to his career and to his family.As a partner in the company, Frank Hall Homes, he says providingaffordable homes for Caymanian families remains one of his goals.
Hailed from Bodden Town, Mr. Connolly makeshis home in Pedro, together with his wife Eleanor and their twodaughters.