Often, we miss the titans in our midst, without the presence of whom, the cogs of national construction would not turn. One such titan who recently departed the terrestrial plain was Lovertie Emanuel Greenaway; simply Lovertie to many, or Marshall to others.
Lovertie – the Titan of National Construction in Memory
As a child of the 1960s, I first knew Mr. Lovertie at the Fire Brigade Headquarters (HQ), where our Dad Wendell McKenzie Christian served as a fire officer. He would always drive up to the HQ in one of the many Land Rover jeeps he owned over the years. With its table tennis board in its lecture hall, the HQ was a hub of activity in Roseau for young men interested in the sport. Mr. Lovertie was a fixture there as he served as a volunteer firefighter – alongside his friend Rudy Joseph. Volunteering for the fire brigade was only one of Mr. Lovertie’s many community service efforts; his real job was at the Public Works Department. He was a bulldozer operator, mechanic, master welder, and later a senior superintendent of works. As a bulldozer operator, Mr. Lovertie left his mark on the national landscape with the various road projects in which he played a key role.
Lovertie Greenaway laying a roadbed on the Trans-Insular Road Project
Alongside fellow bulldozer operators such as Reuben Luke (later of Reuben’s Bakery fame), Mr. Lovertie helped cut the Imperial Road, the Coastal Road, and many other feeder roads for local farmers. Before cutting the Imperial (or Trans-insular) Road, most country folk coming into town would have to navigate their way by foot on often muddy tortuous paths; the wealthy would travel the same paths via horseback. After World War II and the coming of local government following universal adult suffrage in 1951, Chief Ministers Frank Baron and Edward LeBlanc dedicated themselves to improving the local road network. The 1960s was when the wheels of industry on Dominica spun briskly, and the Public Works Department (PWD) yard was a beehive of dynamic activity. It was quite a sight to see men bent diligently over their lathe machines at the PWD yard. The expert lather operator called Gray of Layou, who once overturned a car on a $25 bet and returned the vehicle to its four wheels – emerging unscathed -was among that group. A leader in that pack was the expert mechanic Newton Prevost, the close PWD associate, and friend of Lovertie. With the precise welding of spanners and screwdrivers, Prevost could breathe life into derelict dump trucks, Land Rover jeeps, and bulldozers.
Lovertie had also befriended the legendary local automobile mechanic Eric Shillingford from their days at the Roseau Mixed Infant School. When Eric returned from studying mechanical engineering at Luton, England, in 1961, Lovertie picked him up at the port. Working alongside Eric, his stepfather, and his mother, Mr. & Mrs. Alec Giraud, Lovertie used his superb welding skills to fabricate many parts of Eric’s Bakery: the first mechanized bread, cake, and biscuit factory in the Eastern Caribbean in 1962.
Lovertie Greenaway at the controls of a Caterpillar bulldozer during the building of the road at Pond Casse in the 1950s
As school children at the time, we would stare in awe as giant Caterpillar bulldozers atop trailers groaned through Roseau on their mission to make passable for vehicular traffic the twisting massifs of our thickly wooded island. It was a time of much productivity on the island to the degree that near where the Agricultural Industrial Development Bank is today was DOMTRAC -the local Caterpillar dealership. It was a time when the mining of pumice at the Tarish Pit was in full swing, and Lovertie’s talents in mechanical engineering and welding was also called upon at that site when equipment broke down. Today Tarish Pit is a village – the yawning gorge where bulldozers and dump trucks once prowled amidst swirling pumice dust now filled with modest dwellings of those who built on that site after the ravages of Hurricane David of 1979.
A tall, handsome, and generous man Lovertie grew in heroic stature among us, as he smoothly worked the controls of the yellow Caterpillar bulldozers up and down precipitous landscape our island home. It took bravery and skill to carve roads out of the slippery soil and the hard rock of Dominica’s difficult mountainous terrain. Such work was very dangerous, and lives were lost in that process of taming our wild terrain for vehicular traffic. But Mr. Lovertie was up to the task. He was a leader among a cohort of dedicated PWD workers who gave us pride in the honest labour of our titans of national construction. While we did on occasion have foreign workers, the major construction projects of my time growing up in Dominica were undertaken by and for Dominicans. It is good for youngsters of today, and the politicians who aspire to true leadership, to appreciate the national pride that came from seeing our own folk master technology. The competence made manifest by the native intelligence of our very own like Mr. Lovertie Greenaway, urges us on to do better in all our endeavors.
Another legendary aspect of Mr. Loverties’ life was his heroic efforts to save the lives of his sensay clad friends Eric Shillingford, George James and Eddie Martin on Carnival Monday, February 25, 1963. In what was a group of five masqueraders, Lovertie and Edward Green wore crocus bag sensay, while the other three wore more flammable rope sensay. That afternoon a mysterious flame engulfed the sensay revelers. Green and Lovertie emerged unscathed. But despite Lovertie’s valiant efforts to tear off the costumes of his flame engulfed friends, Eric, George, and Eddie, did not make it. Eddie died on the spot and Eric and George passed away later at the University of the West Indies Hospital, Mona Jamaica. We pay tribute here to Mr. Lovertie for sharing his knowledge of that tragic aspect of our carnival history in what became Death by Fire – The Explosive Story of the 1963 Carnival Tragedy (Irving W. Andre, Gabriel J. Christian, Pont Casse Press, 2007).
Lovertie – the Man of Faith
Lovertie was a man who put God first in his life. In his younger days, Lovertie started his day kneeling in prayer beside his bed. He attended church services regularly and later in life, clergy would regularly visit with him at his home. He supported the church in many ways, making donations when needed. Lovertie remained humble man to the end, always generous and serving others in need.
Lovertie – the Professional
Lovertie left school at age 14 and started his first job as a messenger for a surgeon, Dr. Carr and then Dr. Robinson. After two years in that role, he decided to become a blacksmith apprentice, which he did for two years. He then went on to work at Colonial Development Corporation (CDC) for another two years, helping to build and operate the ice plant. It was there that he learned the skill of arc welding and was paid $1.20 a day. Eventually he got a raise to $2.00 a day. Lovertie wanted to work at the Public Works Department to operate Caterpillars and finally in 1954, he started working there earning $4.00 a day. He remained at the Public Works Department for the next 37 years, retiring as Assistant Superintendent in 1991. During his tenure at the Public Works Department, Lovertie attended a six-month technical program to study arc welding at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. In 2011, Lovertie was recognized by a grateful nation for his achievements in public works construction and engineering with Dominica’s Medal of Honor.
Lovertie – the Family Man & His Legacy
Lovertie Emanuel Greenaway was born to Mornelia (Mornin) Delauney John of Roseau and Hackington Greenaway of Montserrat on December 24, 1931. He was the first of Mornelia’s three children
Lovertie married Ursula Burton in 1961 and had five children with her. Lovertie’s legacy resides in his wife of 61 years, Ursula Greenaway and his nine children – Marvlyn Greenaway, Roy Greenaway, Marlene Lambert and her husband, Ian; Lucia Burton and her husband, David; Lorraine Greenaway, Margaret Chaplin and her husband, Chris, Russell Greenaway and his wife, Joycelyn; Patricia Greenaway and Luanne Greenaway; Whitney Greenaway and 14 other grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren; his sister Gwenneth Doctrove, the extended Burton and Doctrove in-law families, the Delauney family, cousins, nieces, nephews, numerous godchildren and a host of other friends.
Lovertie passed away on August 21, 2021. His death leaves a gap in our social architecture, and he shall be sorely missed. It is however to our gain that he lives on in the many public works he left behind. His service bettered the quality of life on our island. So, as we make our way along the winding country roads of our island, skirting the many precipitous passes, may we all remember those like Mr. Lovertie who risked their lives to make such travel possible.
Our condolences go out to his friends and family. We shall remember him.
An interesting and absorbing article by Gabriel Christian. I knew of Mr. Lovertie from the time I was a child. He was a close friend of my aunts. He was a well-known figure in Dominica. Thanks, Gabriel, for recording and disseminating his contribution to nation building. It is so sad and an indictment of present-day leaders that the Public Works Corporation has been reduced to practically ”nothingness”.
When I was a kid in Pottersville Mr Lovertie name was always mentioned in our house hold he was part of the family love and willing to help all,in those days Dominica was a family island onlike today that evil so-called UWP criminals organisation is tearing our nation apart Mr Lovertie, must be crying out loud in his grave, having said that I certainly would love to see a statue erected of that great Man: Lovertie Emanuel Greenaway, far too long we been ignoring our great heroes in Dominica !!!
This was well done. It shows the share talent that we have on island and the incredible personnel who can get things done. His contributions will not be forgotten. His passion for the Land Rovers is unrivaled. He would rebuild the chassis from scratch, after they were rusted out, due to our salty humid climate. Peter from Public Works would rewire those old jeeps and bring them back to life. R.I.P
Yeah those old land rovers were not easy when you had them working. So much so that deceased Mr. Harold Shillingford from Massacre once traded a brand new gray land rover jeep for a Yellow and Black second-hand one from public works owned by a former employee because he thought those Mr. Lovertie worked on were stronger and knew our roads better. Sadly, that was a flawed thought process that was taken advantage of. The middle was a well known vehicle salesman from Newtown.
Needless to say long after the Yellow and Black one was gone the Gray one was still shining and running like clockwork 
. Ohhhh the good old days!
That “expert lather” that you mentioned called “gray” was not from Layou but Mahaut. He was better known as “Big Gray.” Was the best lather in Dominica. I’ve had a few close encounters with Mr. Louvertie at his shop in Goodwill. He looked intimidating due to his physical appearance; but he was in fact a very humble man, in my opinion.
The said “Big Gray” was from Larwie-peecartie in Mahaut. His hallmark was riding his BSA Motorcycle sporting his cowboy boots
. He was the father of former Police Officer Jerry Stephenson alias Lapo-Kaka. Gray and Malcolm are actually first cousins. Their mothers were the sisters of the late Bishop Bowers
@Nwa-Banday..you are very correct.
. Big Gray real padner was Elliott (Big Allie) for teacher Joseph. All these talented men worked at Public Works during the same time Mr. Lovertie was an employee there.
Today, we have a “leader” who thinks Dominica no longer has qualified workers; giving out projects and contracts to strangers and foreigners. Mr Lovertie would have been a very good Prime Minister of our country, because he understood and knew what was needed and important to Dominica.
Exceptionally well-written Eulogy of Mr. Lovertie Greenaway. I grew up in Bowers Lane and Gabriel Christian this article chronicled the life of Mr. Greenaway. May his soul RIP
I remember when I was going to the dgs I had a broken skates and Mr Lovertie welded it for me without no charge.He was a very kind hearted gentleman.
Thank you Gabriel for sharing my Dad contribution and his humbleness with our people. Surely is missed!Well done!!
That is a great piece by Gabriel J Christian.FANTASTIC.History,and history is the study of past events.Let us hope Gabriel J Christian write a book on THOSE WHO STAYED in the rebuilding of Dominica.
Thank you Gabriel Christian for such an enlightening article. I knew Mr. Greenaway but didn’t know so much about him. This article was very enlightening.
One thing those men of those time had, that men don’t have these days is the power of Collective Bargaining,,,
Most if not all those pioneers of the construction years worked for the Public Works Department,,,
Today just as the Department is in Shambles so to is the possibility of becoming as great as those of the past, because the Ones of today don’t have that collectiveness that those of yesteryears had,,,
When you have a Prime minister coming and making offers to individuals in presentations talking about ” they will get a piece of the cake” what else you expect,,,
Thank you for bringing light to the pioneers of the past I remember those days growing up admiring the pioneers whom most of them taught themselves those careers in which they excelled,,,
I knew him from a child as a personal and close friend of my father. Thanks to your historical review Doc, of his astronomical accomplishments, I’m now much more enlightened on the measure of his input into our nation’s development.
Again we owe a debt of gratitude to Gabriel Christian for enlightening us all Dominicans on the contributions to the nation by builder like Louvertie Emanuel Greenaway an outstanding model for our youth and what can be achieved even from humble beginnings. Louvertie remained a true friend of my brother Eric thru his life
I am pleased that the contribution of those with practical skills are being recognized.
Sadly, the Public Works machine shop has been closed down – a department should have been considered as absolutely essential for the future development of Dominica.
Outstanding article, jam-packed with history I didn’t know!
We so need to be reminded of the great accomplishments of those who came before. Our young people need a vision that we can do things ourselves. Let us liberate ourselve from the hand-out mindset. Let us blaze a trail and give our children something to talk about.