EULOGY: Mcintyre Emmanuel Nicholas Douglas

The Catholic community in Dominica has lost an icon with the passing of Macintyre Douglas.

Mac was the 8th child of the union of Robert and Bernadette Douglas. Mac, like his parents, was steadfast and uncompromising in his defence of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

But Mac was so much more than a devout Catholic. He was a man of unimpeachable integrity and passionate idealism. He was inspired by the ideals of his father, RBD, who sacrificed the building of a home for himself and his family to build a chapel at Toucarie.

His love for Latin and his reverence for the Blessed Virgin Mary started at home. In his childhood days, the day started with prayers to be followed by daily mass. That love for Latin was also deeply influenced by Miss Agatine Joseph, the organist in the church.

In his teenage years, it was assumed that Mac would be a priest and Patricia would become a Nun. In the end, Mac served as an acolyte and deputized for St. Anthony with a brown robe once a year at the weekly 4.30am prayer sessions at the time of the Toucarie feast.

Mac went to church every day. He once said, “Without God life assumes an appalling emptiness”.

Some Sundays he would do mass at Portsmouth at 8 am and mass at Borne at 11 am. He took immense pride in reading in church and practiced in his room for hours. For him it was more than just reading verses of scripture, it was also a performance. In London, he did three masses on a Sunday. He knew the names of all saints and would take part in the yearly ritual of Corpus Christie and Feast of Christ the King. He would close the Snackette early on Good Friday to give his staff the time to go to mass. He never missed a midnight mass.

He recalled in detail all parts of the world Our Lady appeared. He did pilgrimages and walked to Borne and Toucarie. He was a traditionalist, and so was not a fervent participant of the annual charismatic renewal conference.

He sought to rekindle Latin in the Catholic church when he founded the Gregorian choir. And for more than two decades the group traveled throughout the country conducting Latin masses.

In his years at the Saint Mary’s Academy in the 1960s, he lit up debating competitions with his sparkling oratory and fiery debating skills. His peers remember him as being very bright. He won several public speaking awards at the Academy. He was also particularly adept at employing patios expressions to win over audiences to his point of view.

By the late 1960s, RBD began to expand his business interests. Between 1967 and 1972, Douglas Guest House and Snackette, Arbeedee Cinema and the Family home on Harbour Lane were built. This was in addition to Hampstead and Hanover estates. RBD identified Mac as the man to manage the business. He sent him to England where he studied Business at the University of Westminster, formerly, Polytechnic of Central London.

It was in England that Mac forged an even closer bond with his sisters, Joyce and Eleonore, a bond which endured until the end of his life. At the wedding of Eleonore and Eddie Lambert in 1976, it was Mac and RBD who walked her up the aisle.

Mac did return to Dominica upon the successful completion of his studies and worked in the family business for a few years. Differences with RBD led to his premature return to England.

In England, Mac worked for many years for the House of Fraser Group, a luxury department store chain which included D.H Evans on Oxford Street and Barkers on Kensington High Street.

By 1988, RBD was advancing in age. Managing the Douglas Shopping Centre, Hampstead estate and the cinema was taking its toll. All of his other children were overseas pursuing their education or had emigrated. Mac arrived in Dominica from London in September of 1988 for the wedding of his sister, Athlene.

On the day of his departure from Dominica, RBD accompanied him to the airport. Just before Mac boarded the plane, he looked at his father and said,” I see you need help”. RBD forcefully responded: “You’ve seen the position, I don’t just need help, I need to be RELIEVED”.

The death of RBD just a week after his return to London left Mac in a quandary. At the age of just 40, he decided to leave a good job with attractive work and state pension plans and other benefits and living in a fashionable part of London, to return to Dominica to run the family business.

Between 1989 and 2011, in different periods, Mac managed the Snackette, the cinema and Hanover and Hampstead estates. Under his leadership, Snackette enjoyed its best sales in the late 1990s through to 2006. Copra sales to Dominica Coconut Products (DCP) also reached new heights with Mac at the helm. He gave his most productive years in the service of the family company, and for that the family will eternally be in his debt.

Perhaps his single biggest regret is the fact that he was not able to see a major tourism development at Hampstead in his lifetime. He campaigned and worked with passion and dedication for the construction of a 5-star resort and golf course at Hampstead.

In 2006, Prime Minister Skerrit called him personally and asked him to be the new deputy chairman of the AID Bank. While Mac was flattered by the offer, he told the Prime Minister that his commitment to the construction of a topflight resort and golf course at Hampstead left him little time to devote to other interests.

Mac’s brilliant writing ability and his command of the English Language was first noticed at SMA in the 1960s. His writing was rich and captivating. He would often cringe and wince in pain when he heard someone mispronounce a word. He kept a VADEMECUM throughout his life, where he recorded poignant experiences, useful words, memorable prayers, thoughts and quotations, illuminating ideas, principles and techniques, flashes of wit and humour and worthwhile and attractive turns of phrase. But it was not until 1981 that his colourful use of English catapulted him to national prominence.

In 1980, his precocious niece, Sheryl Dear had won a European Development Fund (EDF) scholarship to pursue a degree in computer science at the University of Bradford in England. The Government at the time was led by Oliver Seraphine as Prime Minister and Sheryl’s uncle Michael Douglas, was the Deputy Prime Minister.

The new government cancelled the scholarship, because according to the new Prime Minister, Eugenia Charles, “Computer Science is not on my government’s list of priorities”. Mac Douglas was livid at what he felt was a short-sighted and vindictive decision by the Freedom party government. He pressed into service his outstanding literary skills by penning a lengthy letter to the editor of the New Chronicle.

In 2001, Mac rattled some feathers within the government of Pierre Charles, local environmentalists, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Greenpeace. The issue was Dominica’s vote at the upcoming meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) set for London in July of 2001.

In previous years, successive governments had voted against the establishment of a South Pacific Whale Sanctuary. Months before the London meeting, there were rumours that the Dominica government would change its position on the issue. Mac singlehandedly led a campaign to persuade the Government to continue to support the principle of the sustainable use of the world’s marine resources as adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in 1992.

Fearing that the multimillion-dollar Japanese funded Fisheries complex earmarked for Portsmouth would be in jeopardy, Mac tombe d’ hors and went on the offensive. He held a massive meeting at the Arbeedee cinema and wrote many articles in newspapers and bombarded the radio stations galvanising public support for Dominica to continue to vote with its OECS neighbours and Japan on the issue. In the end, the Dominica government maintained the position it had taken in Australia in 2000 and in previous years.

As a result of his tireless work on the whaling issue, Mac was able to secure funding from the Japan Whaling Association to build two public conveniences, one in Chance and the other in Glanvilla. And through the Japanese embassy in Trinidad, he was able to source funds to construct a bridge at Dos Dane.

Mac was a card-carrying member of the Labour party in Britain and was also a member of the Dominica Labour Party. In 2005, he helped thwart what he perceived to be an attempt by Dr. William ‘Para’ Riviere to replace Hon. Ian Douglas as the D.L.P candidate for the Portsmouth constituency in the 2005 general elections.

In spite of his unswerving support for his party, he was never afraid to voice his opinion even if it differed from the official party line. In 2006, he wrote extensively in the newspapers against the imposition of the Value Added Tax (VAT). He argued that imposing a VAT at that time, with the Dominican economy still recovering from the deep recession of the 2001-2003 period, was a mistake. And in 2011, he publicly attacked the government’s decision not to renew the contract of his nephew, magistrate Tiyani Behanzin. When pressed further on the issue he said: “ I think it is an appalling decision.”

Mac was a multifaceted individual. He enjoyed a wide range of interests besides the church and the business. He was a fantastic swimmer and would often be seen dancing to soca music, lapeau kabwit or classics from the 1960s and 70s.

He was a lifelong football fan of Brazil and kept those old VHS tapes of Brazil, especially their victory in the 1970 world cup. He enjoyed tennis and was often seen kneeling down praying in the Snackette when Serena Williams was playing. He loved it when black players did well in any sport. He revelled in the moment when in 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first black player to win the Men’s singles final at Wimbledon.

Carnival was also a special time of the year for Mac. In his years in London, he joined revellers at the Notting Hill carnival every year. He saw it as the last bit of relief before the onset of the English winter.

He fought off attempts by conservatives in the 1980s to move the carnival from the streets of West London to Hyde Park. He wrote a masterpiece in a British newspaper highlighting the benefits of Europe’s biggest street party maintaining its presence in Notting Hill. He loved steel band music and followed the popular ones like Mangrove, Metronomes and London All Stars steel band. In Dominica, he would leave the Snackette and would be seen dressed in his long short pants, red socks and a whistle. In his younger days he would do the ‘Long run’. Jour ’vert morning was his time.

Mac also loved the independence season. He owned a plethora of madras outfits. He pioneered Creole Day lunch in the Snackette. In the weeks leading to Creole Day, he would distribute flyers to business places all over Portsmouth advertising creole day lunch.

Let me share with you in Mac’s own distinct words the flyer he produced in 2010. It read: “517 years after Columbus visited and 32 years after attaining political independence, Dominica recalls its historic discovery and political independence with a delightful banquet… We are reproducing for your consummate delectation, mouth-watering favourites from a unique culinary heritage…”

And I still remember the crew he assembled every year on creole day, Hyma, Marsha, Crazy, Christine, Celina, Agnita and Agnicia. And the mouth-watering favourites included callaloo soup, curried goat, dasheen croquettes, roast breadfruit and codfish and in his own words” exquisite Douglas ice cream”.

But one morning in May of 2011, Mac fell ill. I remember that day vividly because it was the day the world’s most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden was found and killed in Pakistan. Mac was first hospitalised in Dominica for a few days and Martinque for four months. He was lucky to have survived, as he had contracted meningitis and had a tumour in his brain. The fact that he survived was due to the grace of God, the ingenuity of the doctors in Martinique and the generosity of our French friends, Ann-Marie Loiseau and Maryse Symphor. He was especially thankful to his family and especially his sisters, Joyce, Tingale and Eleonore who were there for him at a critical time.

In the following years, he went to England once a year for his annual check-up. In England he was showered with love and warmth by his niece Sheryl, her husband Creswell and her children, Reiss and Naomi.

His health scare, however, did not prevent him from attending mass and going to every funeral in Portsmouth and elsewhere. He continued to join the Gregorian choir singing in Latin in villages across Dominica.

When he left Dominica in June this year everyone expected him to return to Dominica before the onset of winter in England. But his sister in law, Olivia Douglas, recalls that the way Mac thanked her for her unbridled generosity in his hour of need, it felt as if he knew he would not see her again.

Mac Douglas left an indelible mark on all those who knew him. He was compassionate and decent. He was also unconventional, superstitious and at times eccentric. He was motivated to a large extent by the high ideals and deep principles of his father and mother. At his 60th birthday celebration in 2008, he appealed for all Douglases to follow in the footsteps of RBD by working to help others and not be motivated solely by personal goals and achievements. In the latter weeks of his life, he yearned for greater family unity.

But he will undoubtedly be best remembered for his unrelenting devotion to Roman Catholicism.

The Douglas family will remember him for his leadership in running the family business at a time no one else was available to perform this vital role. The fact that Douglas ice cream is now an established brand in Dominica today is largely due to his early pioneering efforts.

Mac’s ultimate goal while on earth was to secure his place in heaven, the eternal kingdom. Like all catholics, he believed in the existence of purgatory, a place where people, who are not quite ready to meet the almighty go, for a period of additional preparation to secure a place in the kingdom of heaven. And so, I call upon all catholics to continue to say prayers for Uncle Mac in order to facilitate his safe passage into God’s kingdom.

Mac is survived by one child, PJ Lynne Douglas, one granddaughter, Indira NFL LeBlanc and three great-grandchildren, Ashanti, Alani and Annan.

Macintyre Emmanuel Nicholas Douglas, born December 6, 1948, died August 12, 2018.

May his soul rest in eternal peace.