Windies legend Sir Everton hailed as revolutionary, nation builder

July 31, 2020
Sir Everton Weekes
Sir Everton Weekes

(CMC):

Sir Everton Weekes was yesterday immortalised as a "special gift of grace, gentility and greatness", and also hailed as a working-class hero and nation builder, as the country and region bid farewell to the West Indies legend who passed away earlier this month.

In an official funeral staged at the storied Kensington Oval on the fringes of the capital, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles told a gathering, which included Barbados' Prime Minister Mia Mottley and Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, that Sir Everton had defied his historical and social origins to claim his place at the pinnacle of global success.

Noting that Sir Everton had been "little in physical form and less so in monetary value", Sir Hilary pointed out that the outstanding Barbadian had still emerged as "the greatest giant in a global world filled with giants, completing the near impossible climb to the top".

Greatest revolutionaries

"Sir Everton was one of the greatest revolutionaries of our Caribbean world because he deliberately designed a method to turn this [colonial] history upon its head," Sir Hilary said in a compelling eulogy.

"He was a disturber of the colonial peace that denied any justice. He emerged as a dignified man, representing everything he was not meant to be.

"If ever a bat became a bridge, if ever a bat became a beacon, if ever a bat became a baton, it was the bat in the hands of Everton DeCourcey Weekes."

The last surviving member of the famed Three Ws, Sir Everton died on July 1 at age 95, following a period of ill health.

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