Dear Editor,
The passing of the late Dr. Bernard Nottage this week marked the end of an era for, and within, the Progressive Liberal Party. Nottage, despite whatever some of us may think were his faults, was the consummate Bahamian patriot and nation-builder. I always thought that he was my cousin due to the close friendship between his late mother and my own late paternal aunt, Rena, of Liberty City, Florida. He was, in fact, not my cousin, but I have always known that he would become one of the movers and shakers within our wonderful nation.
It was obvious over the past year or so that BJ, as he was universally known, was not well. As a trained medical doctor, he reminded me of a motor vehicle mechanic.....always able and ready to take care of a customer's vehicle, but allowed his own to fall into a state of disrepair. He was possessed with the focused desire to make life better for the average Bahamian. His hopes and dreams of becoming prime minister were never to be realized, but he, publicly, never appeared to be bitter and he never withdrew from front line politics.
I first met both Dr. Nottage and former PM , Perry Gladstone Christie, way back in the day when we were all students in London and Scotland. PGC and I were into our legal studies (a few years apart, of course) at the University of London and the Inns of Court, while BJ was further up north. They were both passionate about returning home to serve in politics. Well, do I recall the frequent trips of the late great founding father of our nation, Sir Lynden Oscar Pindling, coming over to the UK to have regular talks with Bahamian students.
A fierce debater and political theorist, BJ held his own during the lively discussions with our then 'Moses'. PGC was a little more laid back, but, he too, often exhibited a messianic propensity and a sense that he had a date with destiny. I was the more Machiavellian character, and remain so to this very day. If one is unable, for whatever reason, to become 'king' then I chose the path of 'king maker and mountain shaker'. BJ followed his path and was fairly successful in all of his known endeavors. Behold the man whom we knew as BJ. Not a perfect politician, but a Bahamian who made us all proud.
I recall the first time that I was introduced to BJ by his then fiance, Portia, down at the Nassau Beach Club where she was a singer and diva beyond comparison. It was obvious to me that she was 'the apple of his eye' and 'the love of his life'. A good husband, proud father and community builder, BJ will long be remembered as a champion of the unwashed masses. And so, as we mourn his passage, let us not ever lose sight of the salient fact that BJ lived a full and productive life, unlike so many of those of us who remain alive, for now. BJ was the perfect example of: "If I can touch someone along the way....., my living would not have been in vain." To God then, in all of these things, even death, be the glory, for great things He hath done.

- Ortland H. Bodie, Jr.

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