From
the earliest days Wallace Groves the founder of Freeport was ably assisted by
the redoubtable Keith Gonsalves who was attracted away from a very senior
position with Barclays Bank. One of the earliest residents of Freeport was Doug
Silvera who yo-yoed between Freeport Construction Company and the Port
Authority doing sterling work for both companies. Newly arrived from Nassau and
having left a senior position with the Royal Bahamas Police was Albert (later
Sir Albert) Miller OSMG who initially did fine service with tourist promotion
worked his way up to being appointed as one of three Co-Chairmen of the Port
and its associated companies. Sir Albert was recognized for his exceptional organizational
abilities and was later made, while still with the Port Authority, president of
BEC and Batelco two major Bahamian utilities based in Nassau.
Wallace Groves
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In
1965 Groves employed Martin Dale an economist who was formerly economic advisor
to Prince Rainier of Monaco. He did not stay on the island for long. The
incorrigible ex-Royal Artillery Major ‘Bernie’ Bernard (who was understandably
quite deaf) was Corporate Secretary of the Port Authority in the early days and
Ray Tower was the aggressive legal counsel who overstepped the bounds and
challenged the new government’s policy towards Freeport. He was soon on a plane
back to Canada. Major Bernard too had to
leave and took up a short-lived position as the CEO of an Australian
development company in the South Seas. He finally ended up working in Hong Kong.
At the time there were a bunch of American executives who worked mainly for the
Development Company. General Fisher, a retired USAF airman, being prominent
among them. Another of them, Ken Catren, had an untimely death and was buried
at the Garden of the Groves. All of them left the island shortly after majority
rule.
There were shady characters
too, some of whom came to work with the El Casino at the invitation of ‘Big’
Lou Chesler. The shenanigans of these people has been ably recorded by an
occasional visitor to the island from Massachusetts on his website:
www.jabezcorner.com/Grand_Bahama/month2.htm
George
Kates was the dynamic president of the Grand Bahama Development Company (Devco)
for a time and, under his wing Albert Grey, rose to prominence in the company. Kates
oversaw a giant land sales programme in Lucaya and, to simplify the paperwork involved
in selling to US residents, the Devco land was accepted as being, for all
intents and purposes, part of the United States! Horace Gay was in charge of
public landscaping and with a budget of millions was able to soften the
streetscape of Freeport/Lucaya. After Ray Tower left Michael Boyce took over
the legal reins working for a short time with Willie Moss as legal counsel.
Kates was dismissed by the St George/Hayward duo when they took over the Port
Authority and ended up living in Tehachapi in California (an overseas venture
of the Port Authority created after they decided to diversify away from the
Bahamas).
Grand Bahama Port Authority executives (all expatriate white guys!) a little while before Bahamian independence. From the left: George Moore (Airport Company), General William Fisher (Devco), Keith Gonsalves (President-CEO), Martin Dale (Vice-president), Ray Tower (Legal Counsel), Major Bernie Bernard (Corporate Secretary), Ron Golding (Comptroller).
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After
Sir Jack Hayward and Edward St George stepped into Wallace Groves’ shoes their
tenure at the Port Authority was even longer than that of Groves but for many good
reasons they did not accomplish as much. After St George died Willie Moss was
elevated to the position of Chairman of the Port Authority a position she later
shared with Julian Francis for a year. Since then several people have been
appointed interim Chairmen of the Port Authority presumably marking time until
a new owner appears… assuming the Port ownership spat has been finally been put
to rest.
Peter Barratt is an architect/town planner who was formerly in charge of the
development of Freeport. He writes with first-hand knowledge of the Bahamas
having first visited the country in 1960. Because of his long experience in the
islands he has been able to record many interesting insights, observations and
historic moments that readers should find intriguing.
He has published several books
about the island nation:
Grand Bahama,
Freeport Notebook and
Bahama Saga,
(the latter a historical novel about the islands). He has also written a full
colour work entitled:
Angelic Verses
and two other works are near publication:
The
Port at War and
St Peter Was Never There
.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed here are solely those of the author in his/her
private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of
TheBahamasWeekly.com
