Tears flowed freely at the Coral Ridge Chapel on Friday during an emotional farewell service for Dr Hugh Sealy, as Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley and relatives shared memories of the deceased environmentalist considered an international icon who contributed significantly to the betterment of mankind.
Barbados’ special envoy for climate change and carbon market expert, who died suddenly earlier this month, was remembered as a passionate and qualified defender of the environment, but also a humourous, generous, and loving man.
While Dr Sealy was known in his professional career as a consultant, project manager, professional engineer, environmental scientist, his daughter Jasmine Sealy spoke about him as a family man who loved his children and gave them the gift of unconditional love.
“We weren’t just his children, we were his friends, his collaborators, his equals, on occasion his minions. He included us in his work, asked for our opinions, debated us, challenged us. But he also never shied away from showing his weaknesses and his vulnerabilities,” she recalled.
“I wish I could tell him how grateful I am for that honesty; how grateful I am for the relationship that we had – one founded on mutual respect and admiration. I wish I could tell him how proud I am of him, of his intellect, of his work ethic, of his brilliance.
“I wish I could tell him just one more time how I love him, how much I like him. So, I will take that opportunity now. Dad, I love you so much and I like you even more. You were a giant to us all and it feels impossible that the world carries on spinning in your absence,” a saddened Jasmine said.
Sharing other memories of her father, she said he never did anything in half measure, commanded every room he walked into, dominated every endeavour he attempted, and was infuriatingly good at everything and never passed an opportunity to remind everyone of that fact.
Jasmine shared that while some parents might let their children win at board games, her father would annihilate her in a game of Scrabble, laughing gleefully all the while.
As for her brother Nikkya, she said, he knew that a visit to their father’s house inevitably meant being handed a drill or a hammer and pointed in the direction of something that needed to be repaired.
Allison Sealy-Smith spoke fondly of the close bond she and her younger brother shared as children and into adulthood, and said she was still struggling to come to terms with his death.
She said even though she and her sibling disagreed at times, particularly as children, he kept all her secrets and taught her about forgiveness and that family trumps all.
Sealy-Smith also shared that her brother was dedicated to and energised by his work, and gave his all.
“He was a champion, he was a visionary, he was a born leader, a loud and passionate giant in his field. He also made a serious pepper, never met a pork chop he didn’t like, and could salsa like a boss. He was a good friend and his loss leaves a hole that time will never fill. He was my very first friend and I will miss him terribly for the rest of my life,” an emotional Sealy-Smith said.
Dr Sealy, lecturer on climate change and water resources management at The UWI’s Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at its Cave Hill campus, died on March 18 at the age of 59.
Prime Minister Mottley, who said she maintained a very close friendship with Sealy since they attended primary school together, lamented that she had lost a true friend and advisor who played a pivotal role in schooling her on climate change issues.
The Prime Minister reminded those gathered that when the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) won the general elections in 2018, she asked the scientist to return home from Grenada where he was teaching at St George’s University, to help the country.
She said Dr Sealy offered sound scientific advice on how to resolve water woes that had afflicted eastern parishes for decades.
“I will forever be grateful for his friendship, his advice, his example. Whenever you want to know how someone could remain committed to task and to think outside of the box, committed to finding the solution, not what others expected of them, Hugh represented that for me and for the rest of us who worked with him,” the Prime Minister said.
“My phone will forever have what could easily be published as a book, with the lessons and tutelage that Hugh gave me on issues of climate and on issues of water. And anything that we have achieved as a government is this area, whether it was in Glasgow last year [at COP26] with Marsha [Caddle] and Liz [Elizabeth Thompson], whether it was in the areas of being able to finally deliver water to the people of St John and St Joseph, Hugh Sealy was at the centre of those decisions,” Mottley added.
To honour him, she said, his desire for Barbados to have a world-class ocean energy research facility and marine laboratory capable of cultivating coral tissue that would be the engine for Barbados’ Roofs to Reefs Programme, will become a reality. anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb