This is tribute to a fellow Queen's College (Guyana) alumnus, Laurence Clarke that's worth reading. Lawrence is a smart, fair and honorable individual and this article in Kaiteur News is worthy of the affable Henry Greene whom I've known since his "Bantu" days at QC.

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September 18, 2012 | By KNews | Filed Under Letters 

Dear Editor,
I was deeply saddened by the recent untimely death by a tragic accident of my High School colleague, former Commissioner of Police, Henry Greene. This has since given me cause for deep personal reflection, on the vicissitudes of life and of the finiteness of mortality for each and every one of us.

Henry and I were at Queen’s College in the mid to late 1960s. I was ahead of him by three classes, his having entered in 1965 and I in 1962. We were historically fortunate to be part of a first generation of Independence students, Guyana having attained nationhood in 1966.

We were blessed from a young impressionable age, with truly profound groundings in the subtleties of neo-nationalism and the intriguing politics at its core. We were ever close witnesses to strong values of public service and duty. We were equally guided by some fine role models. One such, highly regarded by most of us, was the late Pryor Jonas, who consistently tried to instill in us, especially those inclined to sports, the highest tenets of true sportsmanship and fair play. Largely on that basis we were, in essence, being prepared to be early leaders in Independent Guyana. Henry was no exception, and went on to hold among the highest offices and ranks of political and public service in Guyana.

During the 1960s, in those formative years, I recall quite well a Henry Greene universally known as a most pleasant, affable and gentle young man, with a ready smile. “Bantu’’ (a nickname now more appropriately, even though then derisively, given to him because of his rich African physical features), was a devoted practising Christian, active in our School’s Christian Fellowship Society. I recall clearly his coming around on Thursday afternoons to galvanise his more senior colleagues such as I ,while we were on the table tennis table – Bible in hand, pleading for us to spend a hour in fellowship.
He himself was a very gifted table tennis player from young (He was Junior Champion in 1967). Being the School’s table tennis captain in the Sixth Form, by which time Henry was only in Third, I came to know him relatively closely. Both as a student then and alumnus after, he was fiercely loyal to his Alma Mater. I still remember his enormous contributions to our 1994 and 2009 Alumni Reunions in Guyana, without which overall on-ground support, our events would have been so much the poorer.

My being based abroad, Henry and I had not been in close contact for some two to three decades, apart for brief sightings when I was occasionally on visit to Guyana. But during that time, and especially in recent years, even as he commendably surged up his known professional ladder, I could never really understand the apparently tectonic personality shifts that were reputedly emerging in him. I became over time most curious, perplexed and concerned.

So it was during my recent trip to Guyana – a mere seven weeks ago – that I unequivocally endeavoured for a frank, one and one talk with Henry. I  got my desire a mere two to three days after my arrival, when  I ran into a mutual High School colleague of ours, one of Henry’s closest buddies till his death, who  resided at the same hotel  as I in Kingston. He arranged for me to meet with Henry two nights later. We three had dinner together.

During dinner, Henry and I enjoyed about four hours of purposeful but gentle conversation. I quickly explained that I was not there to judge him on any of his past alleged or real indiscretions, but came merely as an old friend to try to understand directly from him why and how aspects of his life had allegedly changed so perceptibly, and whether I could I help in anyway. I urged him to let the events of recent months in particular be perhaps a defining moment, if not a turning point in his life for the positive, especially as regards his interface with the women of Guyana. I encouraged him to keep his chin up and take a positive view of life ahead of him.

Henry listened very carefully and engaged in a serene and relaxed manner, and with his trademark smile throughout. He clearly acknowledged that he had a unique opportunity to reclaim some higher ground ahead in society. He shared that he was in the process of setting up an office to practice law, as he had earlier earned an LLB degree. Towards midnight, we walked together down to the lobby of the hotel. I recall vividly that his phone rang as we were about to say goodbye. As it turned out, that phone call was from the late Laurie Lewis, whom I understand was one of Henry’s closest professional mentors. I left them that evening in deep animated conversation. Six weeks later they were both dead. Sobering. Chilling.

Henry Greene’s passing in such a sudden and seemingly untimely way has left me with many questions …and equally very few answers. As did our former High School teacher,  Dr Clarence Perry, in a moving piece on Henry last week, I too am searching for credible clues as to what could induce striking intertemporal variability in aspects of the human  personality, especially  given the groundings Henry  and countless young Guyanese of his ‘’kraal’’  would have had?

Is it rooted in excessive and unchecked power, as Clarence conjectured?  Is it environmental? Do the apparently growing gaps in social and other forms of inclusion in our society tap into the dark recesses of our minds, making the best of us potentially susceptible to the worst in ourselves?  Are our leaders in national life and service, assuming such lofty positions prematurely, without being appositely grounded emotionally or culturally to fortify ourselves against the myriad pressures potentially infesting and infecting our positions of authority and influence? Who are our national mentors and role models these days?

And, importantly, is each of us doing enough as possible “keepers” of our brothers and sisters, to provide timely advice, friendly words of encouragement or caution, where such is evidently lacking and warranted?   Put another way, are we citizens of our nation stopping often enough to read the tea leaves and smell the roses?

These are admittedly complex and complicated questions for which I personally have few answers.  But of one thing I am now very certain.  It is the overarching reality that Henry Greene’s sudden passing may have denied him of a deeper opportunity himself to think through solutions to many of these questions. Indeed, my clear sense from our dinner conversation that evening was that he was already contemplating quietly and shifting emotionally to regain a much more acceptable face and place in our society, through his planned new professional sojourn. But that was not to be – a huge lesson and substantial food for thought for all of us still fortunate and able to work towards building more positive and inclusive social capital in our still young nation.

Henry Greene, once a mortal as we all are, has gone on, I suspect, to higher levels of accountability and hopefully noble service elsewhere. May he find eternal peace and rest.

Laurence Clarke
World Bank, Africa