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A tribute to Laurence Clarke

Mar 01, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
Having read the article by Mr Eric Phillips of the African Cultural and Development Association in the 28th February 2014 edition of your newspaper, I can only support his fine tribute to one of Plaisance’s finest sons that was Laurence Clarke.
Every native of that hallowed soil on the East Coast of Demerara has to be very proud of their fellow villager’s long list of achievements.  I would like to add to Mr Phillips’ list of Laurence’s achievements, his long and successful years as a senior employee for the World Bank in his motherland of Africa.
The last time I spoke to Laurence was at one of the Plaisance Village Reunion dances in Brooklyn, New York about three years ago.  The brother was ‘decked’ out in his dashiki and looked every inch a true son of Africa, i.e. not a ‘hyphenated’ African.
At the aforementioned event, he was in the company of Mrs Beryl Adams-Haynes, the author of ‘Plaisance: From Emancipation to Independence and Beyond’. Incidentally, Laurence was the editor of the book, which includes an excellent article on his numerous achievements in Guyana and abroad. He would have been a Minister of Finance par excellence.
Although he had achieved so much in a life that was cut short in its prime, Laurence was the humblest of men.  He had accomplished so much to be boastful and arrogant about, but he was always respectful to everyone.
I recall vividly an enlightening article/letter he authored on his schoolmate and the then beleaguered Commissioner of Police Henry Greene, where he sought to explain the former top cop’s behaviour that eventually led to his resignation from the Guyana Police Force. The article also partially explained the unruly etc…behaviour of many top officials in Guyana. I think it was published in this newspaper.
At one time during the earlier part of my life, I lived next door to him in the Sparendaam area and we were pupils together at St Paul’s Anglican School.  Unfortunately, I was taken away to foreign lands by my parents, but we got reacquainted on my many sojourns to Guyana to participate in sport activities. He would engage me in deep discussions on the finer points of the noble game of cricket which we had played together as boys on many of the open spaces in Sparendaam.  We affectionately called it ‘bat and ball’.
On numerous occasions when passing through the city where I reside, en route to some African country, he would contact me via the telephone to ‘ole talk’.  I am so sorry Laurence has left us physically, but his spirit will always remain in Plaisance, especially among his contemporaries.  May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
Lonsdale Skinner

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