Final goodbye to a dear friend, Patrick Lee of Apple Valley Park, St. Elizabeth

[Olivia]

Accompong, I'm sorry the time with your friend Mr. Lee has come to an end. Did he and his wife have a bakery in the town? If so, I met them both years ago and they were wonderfully warm and welcoming - it seems to me they also served hot food at the bakery (but I could be wrong).

[don+shelley]

We are sorry to hear of this great man's passing ,Accompong ....

[Accompong]

Accompong, I'm sorry the time with your friend Mr. Lee has come to an end. Did he and his wife have a bakery in the town? If so, I met them both years ago and they were wonderfully warm and welcoming - it seems to me they also served hot food at the bakery (but I could be wrong).

No Olivia, you are correct. The business started as the Sweet Bakery before there was a 550 acre park across the road. Patrick used to deliver bread for another bakery to the Aluminum plant on the northeast side of town many years ago. He then decided to move to Maggotty and open a bakery but he had no recipe for bread. A relative gave him one but it contained too much sugar. People loved the bread so much and call it "dweet" (sweet) so he named the bakery Sweet Bakery. I have a lot of pictures but they are at my home in Accompong Town Jamaica.

Over the years they served some meals there as well; had a small store and now it is a Post Office for the town.

Thank you all for your condolences. He was truly a great man and a good friend.

CaptD, you must have met him at some point as he and Shakespeare were the two driving forces that kept Maggotty alive after the bauxite plant closure.

With your indulgence, I am going to post the eulogy I wrote for the family.

Even when I learned your first name was Patrick, I continued to mostly call you Mr. Lee. That was out of the total Respect that I had for you. Before meeting you, I knew only a few Jamaicans and most of them I could only consider to be acquaintances. I felt the love in your presence and I soon adopted you and your family to fill the void of a true family experience that I never had.

I first discovered Maggotty in the late ‘80s after a train ride from Kingston. Peter Bentley told me about the Great House and all the natural beauty of Apple Valley but he played down going to the park that was under construction as it wasn’t his style. Well, it certainly was mine. The park became a refuge from where I could feel secure as I spread my wings out into Jamaica’s interior. You, Mr. Lee, became not only a best friend but a mentor too. You taught me so much, my friend, about Jamaica’s History and Culture as well as how to live.

Mr. Lee, you were a man of many talents. You could sing, play a guitar, paint and dance and you could weld, plumb, build and (most importantly) you could dream. Many of us are dreamers but only a few can make dreams into reality. I will always remember the painting of you on a bulldozer clearing the swamp from where the fish-stocked lakes were born and the engineering process of building the Jacuzzi and the evenings at the park singing songs and playing the guitar while educating me about Politics and Culture. You were a very busy man but you always seemed to take time to teach me.

I learned a lot about what shaped your life from escaping China to meeting Mrs. Lee to the extra sugar in the bread recipe. I learned valuable lessons on how to treat Jamaicans and family. I loved our time traveling to places like Kingston, Montego Bay, New Market and Treasure Beach. I was eager to learn about Jamaica and you were proud to show it to me.
Words can never fully express the void your passing has left in my heart. I do, however, feel that the work you have done will live long after your time on Earth. Faith and Family were the most important things in your life. You have sowed the seeds and the fruit has sprung forth and long they will continue to multiply and prosper. R.I.P. my friend.

Bill Evans

Peace and Guidance