There was a time when Dave Kelly’s life was very different from what it is today. Now the owner of a successful water-sports business, he was once living rough, trapped in a cycle of addiction and incarceration. It was hard to imagine during those days that life could be different or resemble the health and happiness that he has now achieved.
Kelly came from a humble but ordinary upbringing in West Bay, but at a certain point he went fully off the rails, forming a dependence on drugs. The people in his district began avoiding him or turning their back on him, characterising him as a menace, either looking for money or some other opportunity to get more crack cocaine.
“I grew up in the church and my mind was always there that I had to do better, but I was just stuck,” Kelly said.
“I got married in 1991 and I was still an idiot. I was on drugs, and she was on drugs, and I was in prison. I was not taking care of my responsibilities and that was not spelling a happy relationship or me being any type of a man.”
In 1993, Kelly found himself locked up in Northward Prison.
“I was facing a sack load of charges and cases pending,” he said. “My lawyer, Graham Hampson, was a great encouragement to me; he said you have to prove yourself and show the judge that you are straightening up your act, because if you don’t get it together, you are going to be in Northward for a long time.”
That possibility made it clear for Kelly that something in his life needed to change.
Sick and tired of going to prison
Kelly in parts credits his wife Cloret for encouraging him to make the change and leave drug abuse behind.
“She started going to the [Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous] meetings a little bit before me. And she had sort of started to reject my behaviour, so that was another reason I had to get my act together,” he said.
According to Kelly, Hampson, his lawyer, managed to get him out on bail, pending an appeal.
“He did it with me, putting up no cash because he knew I didn’t have any money. I got out of there and it took me a while to get it together … I had run out of options. We [Kelly and Cloret] went to an AA meeting, and someone said, just keep on coming back and things will get better,” he said.
“I went home and talked to my wife Cloret who was also addicted to crack, and we asked God to help us. I dropped everything at one time. No more smoking cigarettes, no weed, no more cocaine, no gambling. Just going to church and meetings and working on my business.”
Despite getting sober, Kelly was still facing the possibility of going back to prison.
“After 11 months, we went back to court and he [Hampson] managed to get all the cases put together, and by that time I had people from Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous and the whole church including pastors and other people in the community speaking up for me. They knew that things had majorly changed. I was sober, completely clean and I had even started a small business, Kelly’s Watersports and bus services.”
The judge gave Kelly another chance and, before long, some of the other people struggling with drug abuse in the West Bay community started to notice the changes in him.
Inspiring others to recover from addiction
Brent Hydes, now 16 years sober himself, found inspiration in Kelly’s experience. He now runs the Hope for Today halfway house in West Bay for people in recovery.
“We ran head-to-head and toe-to-toe together and we were nothing but trouble; we were crack-cocaine addicts, and we were takers,” Hydes said.
“Watching the change occur in Dave Kelly motivated me to try and make a change too.”
Today, Kelly oversees a thriving business. He currently has 30 tour and public-transport buses, a four-boat water-sports business with contracts with the cruise lines, and he built a church, where he also preaches.
Waldo Parchment, who is not a recovering addict, works for Kelly. He says that Kelly has given many Caymanians a second chance and an opportunity, not only for people with addiction, but also regular Caymanians like himself that needed a job.
“I remember when Dave was in the grip of addiction. Today he is a completely different person. He is now very successful and well respected. He hires many Caymanians and he is a strong Christian and many people look up to him. He has also given many people who needed a second chance an opportunity to work and get their life back on track,” he said.
Richard Powery is one of those people.
“I also used to use cocaine with Dave Kelly. We were running in the same crowd. I had no spirituality in my life. I was always broke,” Powery said.
“I saw that Dave made a great turnaround and it inspired me. It showed me that recovery is possible and when I sobered up, he encouraged me to get my bus-driving licence, and he gave me a job driving one of his tour buses.”
Powery has been sober for 16 years, and he now has his own business.
“I still go to him for his wise guidance and counsel when life feels challenging,” he said.
Crafton Ebanks, who at one point was homeless and living on a porch, also benefited from Kelly’s support and guidance.
“Dave has helped a lot of people, including me. He looks out for Caymanians and tries to lift people up and encourage them,” Ebanks said.
“Dave Kelly saw that I needed help and with his encouragement, I sought treatment at Caribbean Haven and that helped turn my life around.”
Ebanks has been sober now for 16 years.
“I went from being homeless to full-time employment and building my own house. It takes a good friend to reach out and encourage you to try a better path and because it came from him and I saw the change that occurred in his life, it made me more open to the idea. I am thankful for that,” Ebanks said.
Kelly explained that his faith has been a critical part of his recovery.
“As I got back on my feet, I tried to give it back and be of service to others, because that was what we were taught in the recovery rooms here in Cayman. You have to stop using drugs and alcohol, turn your will and life over to the care of God and be of service to your fellow man,” Kelly said.
“Never look down on another man unless you are reaching down to give them a hand up, and that has been our motto without words behind it ever since we got straight.”
Cloret Kelly suffered a stroke a couple of years ago, but today, the couple still manages, with someone coming in once a week to help with the laundry.
“We do everything together. We travel the world. We were drug addicts together. We came out of it together and we worked hard together to make everything, businesses and the church,” he said.
“It went from one little, small boat to another and then another and then my father invested, and he put another boat in the business. I named it after my mother, TT Pride and we did great. The little business continued to flourish, and it is still flourishing up to this point.”
Kelly credits for the transformation in his life to his faith in God. After sobering up, he went to a seminary in Florida and trained to become a pastor. When the Cayman Compass visited his home in West Bay, he proudly showed off a trophy for being the best student at the seminary in Florida and his certificates to become a preacher.
Powery is among the regular attendees at Kelly’s Ninety and Nine Church on Powell Smith Drive, and there are several other people in recovery who regularly attend the church.
“If you come to the Ninety and Nine Church, you are going to find people who will encourage you and help you up the ladder through faith in Jesus Christ. You can have transformation through AA and NA but it is not enough without faith. You must have faith and serve others to live a great life,” he said.
While Kelly is now a successful and relatively prosperous businessman, he says his greatest riches are spiritual.
“I have peace of mind. I have contentment and I have self respect, but most importantly, I have faith in Jesus. It is open to everyone. You just have to be open to it and try, and amazing things will happen. Your life will be completely transformed.”
He added that people interested in AA and NA do not have follow the Christian faith and can come from any background. The programmes encourage working through a 12-step process to seek a greater power than themselves, but that can come in many forms, depending on the individual.
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Well done! Good man