The highest honour awarded by the
Commonwealth of Kentucky, US, — the Kentucky Colonel — has been bestowed upon
one of Cayman’s own.
Durl Ebanks, a tourism ambassador
and taxi driver working on Grand Cayman, received the award recently in
recognition of his good will and fellowship toward a visiting Kentuckian.
“I don’t know the importance. I don’t know the honour. I never heard about it before. But it seems like it’s very important,” he
said.
Doug Fain, the circuit court clerk
from Jessamine County, Kentucky, visited Grand Cayman on 6 October and was
extended special hospitality by Mr. Ebanks.
Mr. Fain, in a letter dated 18
October, told Mr. Ebanks: “Words cannot express our gratitude for your
excellent service to us on our recent trip to your island!”
Mr. Fain went on to write: “All of
our families have told many people here in our community of the great time we
had on Grand Cayman and it was, of course, because of you.
“Please accept the enclosed
Kentucky Colonel as a token of our appreciation and please know that if we ever
return, we will be calling you in hopes of being able to be escorted around
your homeland once again!”
Mr. Ebanks said that he was just
doing what the tourism department trained him to do.
“I was raised for hospitality. It’s natural for me. I live and breathe that. I was just being myself,” he said. “It feels nice that my hospitality has
allowed me to achieve this honour.”
The award was first given by Isaac
Shelby, Kentucky’s first governor, to his son-in-law Charles S. Todd, the
“colonel” of his staff. Subsequent
Kentucky governors commissioned colonels to act as their protective guard.
The official “Honourable Order of
Kentucky Colonels” was founded by then-governor Ruby Laffoon, and has since
been incorporated as a charitable organisation.
Kentucky colonelships are
commissioned for an individual’s contributions to his or her community, state
or nation, and for special achievements.
The certificate is signed by the
governor and secretary of state and it bears the great seal of Kentucky.
The list of well-known Colonels
include: Harland “Colonel” Sanders, Muhammad Ali, Johnny Depp, Elvis Presley,
Winston Churchill and now, Durl Ebanks.
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