Prime Minister At Funeral Services for Mr. Ron Darville Wednesday 21 December, 2011 Good Morning Church,

We have gathered to bid a final farewell to a much loved husband, father and dear friend who life has been cut short by a terrible tragedy. Our hearts reach out to all the bereaved family whom we shall keep in our prayers.

Ron was a proud Bahamian and a faithful supporter of the Free National Movement. I am therefore doubly honoured to have been invited to bring remarks on this occasion. Ron Darville Sr. or “Yankee” as those closest to him called him was born in Sandy Point, Abaco, but spent most of his adult life here in Grand Bahama. Those who did not know him personally may easily have believed that Ron had studied in Great Britain, so clear and polished was his enunciation and diction. His command of the English Language notwithstanding, Ron conversed easily with people from all walks of life and social class. He was a people’s person whose welcoming smile and jolly disposition warmed all and sundry to him.

His easy and self-effacing disposition did not prevent him from holding deep-seated convictions. He believed in The Bahamas and sought what was best for it. In pursuit of better for The Bahamas, and in particular for Grand Bahama, Ron chose to join the Free National Movement with whose philosophy he closely identified. He was with the Party from its inception… and a voter in Marco City, as he liked to say, since 1982. Ron was an FNM general for all of Grand Bahama and indeed around our country. He was a Vice Chairman of the Free National Movement, a Grand Bahama FNM Council executive and an executive of the Marco City Branch of the FNM. His work and service for the Free National Movement has been outstanding and we owe a great debt of gratitude.

Ron believed that things should be done in an orderly fashion and that simple courtesies should typify discussions and relations between people. He believed that everyone, regardless to of their station in life, was entitled to fair treatment and justice in the settlement of any dispute.

Ron was also a businessman, having owned the once popular Lobster Reef Restaurant and Bar. And he was an executive of Butler and Sands’ for 25 years between 1967 and 1992. He travelled extensively internationally in his post. No doubt it was that exposure which gave him his cosmopolitan approach to life and his broad global view of the world. Ron’s skills and accomplishments in business led us to appoint him Deputy Chairman of the Bahamas Agriculture and Industrial Corporation (BAIC). The post suited him well as he was able to work toward the advancement of agriculture in The Bahamas – farming being one of his passion. And he was happy to bring to bear at BAIC his extensive business experience. Ron was Deputy Chairman at BAIC up to the time of his untimely death.

I am happy that in 2009 I was able to acknowledge Ron’s contribution to our national development with the award of the British Empire Medal in recognition of his outstanding community service. Those of us who knew Ron well know that he was first and foremost a family man who loved and cherished his wife and children dearly. This makes the manner of his death all the more painful. For it was in seeking to intervene in a terrible tragedy involving his son who suffered from a dreadful psychosis that Ron met his demise. It is important for all of us to acknowledge that Ron’s love for his son, and indeed the love of his entire family for that son, kept the young man close to the family notwithstanding his disturbing illness. This is surely a family who daily lives Our Lord’s command to be our brother’s keeper. May God bless them and keep them close in these very sad times.

Cheryl, you and your children have suffered much over the last few months. Few can truly relate to the level of the personal loss you have suffered in recent time, having lost your mother and grandmother, then a son and brother, and now a husband and father, Ron. We in the FNM and indeed throughout the wider Bahamian community grieve with you and extend to you our heartfelt condolences.

Remember happier time with Ron and let those memories comfort you now. Be consoled in the knowledge that Ron is at peace and believe that the God of all creation loves you and cares for you. There is no sorrow here on earth that heaven cannot comfort. Let me encourage you to hold on to His unchanging and hands and know as the Scriptures teaches that “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are called according to his purposes”. God bless you. May he rest in peace.