The weather matched the mood as family and friends paid their respects to Cayman’s first Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks on Friday morning as the rains came down over his casket while officers carried it into the House of Parliament.
Draped in the Cayman Islands flag and covered with clear plastic, Ebanks’ casket was brought into Parliament to lie in state ahead of his final send-off on Saturday.
As his family huddled together under umbrellas walking sombrely behind the casket, politicians from both sides of the House lined up inside Parliament to pay their respects to Ebanks, who died on Sunday, 2 June at the age of 71.
Speaker of the House Sir Alden McLaughlin read verses from ‘A Psalm of Life’ by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow as he commenced the lying-in-state ceremony.
He said that Ebanks, affectionately known to many as ‘Donnie’, “has certainly left the footprints on the sands of time in these islands”.
McLaughlin described Ebanks as “an exemplary civil servant, who served his beloved country for more than 37 years”.
He noted that, as deputy governor, Ebanks was an ex-officio member of the House and was accorded the honour of lying in state as a mark of respect for his “many years of devoted public service”.
An official funeral will be held on Saturday, 22 June at the Clifton Hunter High School auditorium starting at 3pm, to celebrate Ebanks’ life and his public service career that spanned several decades.
Former Chief Secretary James Ryan, who recruited Ebanks for the post of deputy chief secretary in late 1994, was among the many mourners who gathered.
He said apart from being a “very pleasant individual”, Ebanks was an academic who valued education, and attained a master’s degree.
“He was an individual that always came up with new ideas and didn’t hesitate to share them with me and with others. We worked well together,” Ryan told the Cayman Compass.
He said he was deeply saddened to hear of Ebanks’ passing.
“Of course, I had to be here [Friday], and for his funeral [Saturday]. He is gone far too soon. He made his mark on this country, as a civil servant and as an individual, and he will long be remembered,” Ryan said.
Former members of the Cayman Islands High School, now John Gray High School, Class of ’69, all of whom were Ebanks’ former schoolmates, also lined up to say goodbye.
Ebanks’ public service career spanned almost four decades and was “marked by dedicated service and significant contributions to the governance and development of the Cayman Islands”, the statement said.
Ebanks first joined the Public Works Department in 1975. As Cayman’s most senior civil servant, he retired as deputy governor in 2012.
In 1994, he was recognised for his service when the late Queen Elizabeth II awarded him an MBE during her visit to the Cayman Islands.
Ebanks spearheaded “important initiatives, including civil service reform and the establishment of The Commissions Secretariat and the Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) Department,” said a previous government statement on Ebanks’ contributions.
Condolence books are open for the public to sign at the Government Administration Building, the House of Parliament, the District Administration building in Cayman Brac and in the North Side Post Office.
Condolences can also be offered virtually at www.boddenfuneralservices.com.
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