The last time the late Dr. Bernard Nottage was at Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) headquarters for an event attended by the media, it was to witness the resignation of his long-time colleague and friend, former Prime Minister Perry Christie as leader of the PLP.
Last night, Nottage's remains were laid out in a coffin, as teary-eyed PLPs paid tribute to him, through songs, stories and dance.
Supporters gathered around his coffin, which was draped with a wreath of yellow flowers.
Many wept at the sight, including Bernadette Christie, the former prime minister's wife.
During his speech, Perry Christie stopped several times, with tears in his eyes, as he recounted his decades-long friendship with Nottage.
With his voice cracking, Christie said, "I can't imagine that I would be here talking about B.J. This is someone who was brilliant."
Christie paused again and looked at Nottage's casket.
"I bid farewell to you, my brother," he whispered.
"I love you, my brother. You've always made me proud.
"As I sat next to you in Parliament, there were times when I knew you were laboring. I knew if you wanted me to know you would tell me. You knew that as long as I was there I was for you.
"Given what we now know, you provided us with magnificent service. I look back now and I wonder how you were able to just do it. My brother, you have the time to be in heaven. You assured me of that when I was in the room with you."
Both Christie and Nottage lost their seats in the May 10 general election.
Nottage, 71, died at the Cleveland Clinic in Florida on June 28.
Former Tall Pines MP Leslie Miller last night recounted his efforts to recruit Nottage back to the PLP in 2005.
"As soon as we were elected in 2002, the prime minister said to me, 'I have a job for you. You have to get B. J. back'," Miller said.
"I said to him, 'Boy, that's a rough one.'
"Every day, just about, of my life while I was minister of trade and industry I would go to his house before I go home. I would say, 'B. J. you have to come home.'
"I said, 'Listen, you know I'm your jack. I need you. The country needs you. You have to come back.'
"It took me over two years."
After failing to win the leadership of the PLP, Nottage defected from the PLP and went on to lead the now disbanded Coalition for Democratic Reform in 2000.
The new party did not win any seats in the 2002 election.
Miller said Christie called him two days before the party's convention in 2005 and said, "Leslie, get Nottage."
"I went up there (Nottage's home) that evening and Portia (Nottage) was there," Miller said.
"I said, 'Listen, let me tell you something. I want you to understand how much your PLP colleagues love you and respect you and adore you'.
"I said, 'I'm really getting tired of coming here and begging you every day'. I said, 'I'm not getting anywhere'.
"I went into the kitchen drawer and I took out a cleaver. I put my fingers on the table and I said, 'If you go with me two nights from now and if you don't believe they love you...I want you to chap two of my fingers off'.
"He looked at me and said, 'You serious?' I said, 'I serious as the day I was born.'
"He looked at me and he said 'come back tomorrow'."
Miller said he dropped Nottage off to the convention where he knew "they loved him".
An official state funeral for Nottage is scheduled Friday at 11 a.m. at St. Agnes Anglican Church.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian