From the rural village of Four Paths in the parish of Clarendon, Carlton Davis journeys to Jamaica House in Kingston, capping an illustrious career when he becomes the first executive cabinet secretary with additional duties as head of the civil service. This was the apogee of a career that had begun twenty-five years earlier and one that was destined to take him along many paths.
Like the village of his birth and early childhood, Davis’ journey was multi-directional. Beginning his working life as a soil clay mineralogist, he moved effortlessly into the world of bauxite and alumina, serving in multiple roles as scientist, negotiator, and institutional builder to become internationally recognized and acknowledged as one of the world’s leading experts in all facets of the industry and earning him the moniker ‘Mr Bauxite.’
It was his exemplary performance, leadership qualities, and reputation as an even-handed professional that made him the surprise but obvious choice to be placed in charge of administering the nerve centre of government – the cabinet – and trusted adviser to prime ministers and portfolio ministers. In this regard Carlton Davis is unique; though spending a lifetime exclusively in the public service, he had not come through the ranks of the traditional civil service. Moreover, trained scientists are rare in leadership and administrative roles in Jamaica, except in areas that call for scientific training and experience. It was precisely the essence of that training with its emphasis on rigour, orderliness, research, consistency, and discipline that made Davis’s tenure as cabinet secretary the benchmark for successors in that office. But Carlton Davis is a multi-dimensional man possessing a wide range of talents and interests which led to him being appointed chairman of the National Housing Trust (NHT) on two separate occasions. Similarly, it was his known passion for sports, cricket in particular, his support and patronage of the arts and culture in all its forms that served him well and enabled him to serve with distinction as chairman of the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education Fund (CHASE).
Now in the evening of his full and satisfying life, Carlton Davis reflects on life’s journey. He shares with readers intimate portraits of his family and the families around whom he grew up; the teachers who influenced him whether at Holmwood, Jamaica School of Agriculture, Macdonald College, McGill University, in Canada, where he read for his first degree, and The University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus in Trinidad, where he completed his doctorate. We learn about the men and women he admired like National Hero, Rt Excellent Norman Washington Manley or the famous cricketers he met like the legendary George Headley and the iconic Sir Frank Worrell. Then, there are his numerous friends, colleagues, and co-workers at the Scientific Research Council, Department of Mines, and at the Jamaica Bauxite Institute – special among them the late Drs Ian Sangster and Baldwin Mootoo, Parris Lyew-Ayee, Dennis Morrison, and future Barbados prime minister, Owen Arthur. He reserves a special dedication for his dearly departed wife, Rosamond Lastenia, who shared much of the highs and lows of his life and career and who is part inspiration for this memoir.
Carlton Davis, diminutive in size, but a giant of a man in his contribution to the development of modern Jamaica.