“The grass next door is not always as green as it appears. Sometimes people have simply sprayed it green, and sometimes it is better to value where one already stands. ”
Introduction
The character of Dr. Donald Kevin Carey is easiest to recognise through action. He does not present himself as someone who has always known the full direction of his life. Several of his most important responsibilities were not goals he had mapped out years in advance. They emerged because another person noticed his dependability, believed he could help or invited him to step into unfamiliar work. His answer was usually expressed through effort. He entered, learned, adjusted and gradually became someone on whom others relied.
That pattern began early. Responsibility was not treated as an occasional virtue in the household where he grew up. It belonged to daily life. Tasks had to be completed, shared spaces had to be maintained and respect had to be shown. These expectations formed a quiet discipline that later appeared in many different settings. Whether he was dealing with a patient, a property transaction, a legal document, a church ministry, a young person before a panel or a large public event, he understood that another person’s wellbeing could depend on how carefully he handled his part.
He has always placed unusual value on treating people at the same level of respect. Age, position and public reputation did not alter the courtesy he believed they deserved. This outlook helped a shy young employee become comfortable with individuals from very different walks of life. It also created relationships that survived long after the work itself had ended. Years later, people could still approach him and remember how he had assisted them. Such memories were not created through grand gestures. They came from attention, patience and the ability to make another feel that the matter before them was being taken seriously.
His professional movement also reveals a willingness to recognise when a season has run its course. He remained loyal to work while he felt able to contribute honestly. When enthusiasm faded or working relationships no longer carried the mutual understanding he considered necessary, he was prepared to move forward. He did not confuse endurance with remaining permanently in an unsuitable situation. At the same time, he never assumed that another opportunity would automatically be easier. His view of greener grass is characteristically practical. From a distance, a lawn may appear perfect, while closer inspection may reveal that someone has merely sprayed it green. That image reflects a man who weighs change carefully and values what is already sound.
Humility has helped him carry both success and uncertainty without allowing either to become a performance. During years of independent business, he did not advertise whether matters were going especially well or badly. He understood that ownership could attract assumptions about wealth, status and comfort. Rather than encourage those assumptions, he continued working and allowed results to remain private. The same restraint has accompanied the honours and appointments that came later. Each recognition represented trust, and trust created further responsibility.
His life has moved between the secular and the spiritual without requiring one to diminish the other. Faith informed the way he served, while professional experience sharpened the organisation and judgement he brought to service. Church involvement gave expression to his gifts. Civic roles placed him near people facing difficult circumstances. Security work demanded planning on a much larger scale. The environments changed, yet his method remained recognisable: understand what is required, respect the people involved, prepare carefully and remain available when difficulties arise.
"The child is the father of the man."
Phase 1: Six Children, One Steady Foundation
Dr. Donald grew up in a family of six children, surrounded by the everyday movement, rivalry and companionship that come with a full household. Three girls were followed by three boys, and he was the fifth child, with one younger brother arriving two years after him. The boys were separated by roughly two years, while the girls were about three years apart. Those intervals gave each child a distinct place in the family, though possessions, responsibilities and attention naturally had to be shared.
Both parents were present and involved in the lives of their children. His father, Arthur Garfield, was commonly known as Arthur G. The nickname had begun during his own boyhood because two other boys in the settlement of Tarpun Bay, Eleuthera carried the same name. Giving each of them a distinguishing name solved a practical problem, and Arthur G. remained the name by which he was recognised. He worked as a stock clerk at a local lumber company, where accuracy mattered because orders had to be sent out correctly. His occupation required the kind of care that is rarely celebrated publicly, yet becomes immediately visible when it is absent.
His mother, Lillian Mary, née Knowles, worked as a domestic worker. Her labour, like that of her husband, helped sustain a household in which six children had to be fed, clothed and guided. The family did not live with great wealth, and they did not regard themselves as desperately poor. Dr. Donald remembered their circumstances as average. They had enough to survive, and the children learned to live within what was available.
Being the second youngest carried its own mixture of advantages and frustrations. Sibling rivalry was part of growing up, as it is in many large families. Clothing often passed from an older child to a younger one. Hand me downs were therefore familiar, although Dr. Donald occasionally escaped that routine because he and his older brother were almost the same size. Their similar build meant he sometimes received something new rather than automatically inheriting what had already been worn. It was a small distinction, yet it remained clear enough in memory to capture the practical economy of the home.
The children were expected to contribute. Household chores were not presented as favours performed when convenient. They were part of belonging to the family. Work also extended beyond the interior of the home. The premises and yard had to be maintained, and each child had a role in keeping the surroundings in order. These responsibilities taught him that comfort was connected to effort. A cared for home did not remain that way by accident.
Discipline accompanied those expectations. His parents were strict, and his father was especially so. The rules of the household gave clear boundaries to childhood. Dr. Donald did not describe those years through rebellion or exceptional adventure. He considered his childhood normal and, in many respects, average. That description carries no lack of meaning. The stability of two involved parents, the demands of a large family and the regular rhythm of shared duties provided a dependable structure.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
Phase 2 : The Quiet Boy with an Architect’s Eye
At school, Dr. Donald was not the child who tried to command the room. He remembered himself as well behaved, quiet and perhaps a little shy. He was not the class clown, nor did he seek attention through disruption. His manner was restrained. He watched, listened and tried to conduct himself properly. In a household shaped by clear expectations, that approach came naturally.
His favourite areas of study were arithmetic, mathematics and possibly history. Numbers appealed to the part of him that valued order and correct results. History offered another kind of structure, one formed through people, events and the consequences of decisions. He did not later claim that these subjects determined his entire career. They simply reveal the interests of a young mind that was comfortable with logic and attentive to how circumstances unfold.
For a time, he imagined becoming an architect. The ambition connected thought with something visible and practical. Architecture required a person to conceive what was not yet present and to understand how separate elements could be brought together into a stable whole. That possibility attracted him during adolescence. Some summers gave him direct exposure to construction work, allowing him to see the physical side of building rather than knowing it only as an idea.
Construction carried lessons that a classroom could not supply. Plans had to become measurements. Materials had to be handled correctly. Progress depended on work completed in the proper order. Even though he did not pursue architecture as a profession, the attraction itself was consistent with qualities that later emerged elsewhere. He would repeatedly be asked to look at a setting, identify what was required and organise many moving parts into a workable arrangement.
The architectural path did not end because of a dramatic failure. Life simply presented another opening at the point when he was preparing to leave school. A job was offered to him rather than discovered through a long search. It led into optometry, a field he had not described as his childhood ambition. He accepted the opportunity and found that he enjoyed the work. Once practical responsibility took hold, the earlier plan gradually receded.
The choice also carried the urgency familiar to many young people standing at the edge of adult life. An ambition may be sincere, while an immediate opportunity has the power to reorganise attention. The work in front of him offered responsibility now. Architecture required a different course of study and a commitment he would have needed to pursue outside working hours. He followed the opening that had already placed confidence in him.
He never pursued formal study in architecture. Work occupied his attention, and he never found or created the time required to continue along that route. He was honest about this. There was no attempt to transform an unpursued ambition into a hidden achievement. The idea had mattered, construction had interested him and another profession eventually became more immediate.
“Well done is better than well said.”
Phase 3 : Seeing People Clearly, From Assistant to Manager
Around the age of sixteen or seventeen, Dr. Donald entered his first full time position as an ophthalmic assistant. The work involved assisting with the fitting of eyeglasses and supporting the practical needs of eye care. It was a considerable step for someone leaving the protected routine of school. He was young, while many of the people seeking assistance were older, experienced and established within Bahamian society.
The position quickly introduced him to individuals he had previously known only by reputation. Public figures and familiar names arrived as patients, no longer distant from everyday life. The experience could have made a young employee self conscious. Instead, he discovered a principle that simplified every interaction: people responded well when treated with the same degree of respect.
Age did not change that standard. An older patient, a contemporary or someone younger deserved equal courtesy. This consistency helped him get along with those who entered the business and reduced the likelihood of complaints. He was not trying to impress one group while overlooking another. Respect became a practical method of service, and the method worked.
Relationships formed during those years lasted far beyond a single appointment. More than two decades after he had left the field, people would still recognise him and recall what he had done for them. Such encounters gave the early work a continuing life. A pair of glasses may have been the immediate task, while the manner in which assistance was offered became the more durable memory.
From 1979 until approximately 1987, the young assistant matured within the business. Growth became visible in the way he carried himself and in the responsibilities he assumed without waiting to be told. He noticed what had to be done and began carrying a larger portion of the workload. Ownership recognised the difference between an employee who completes assigned tasks and one who accepts responsibility for the wider functioning of the workplace.
During this period, he also completed numerous courses at the Mayflower Management Institute one of which was a course on Effective Speaking. For someone who had regarded himself as quiet and somewhat shy, formal work on effective speech had practical value. Communication was already central to patient service, staff relationships and leadership. The course became another piece of his movement from reserved schoolboy to capable professional.
Effective speaking in that environment was not about performance for its own sake. Instructions had to be understood by colleagues, explanations had to be clear to patients and a manager had to communicate expectations without losing respect. The course added structure to abilities that daily work was already testing. It helped place a stronger voice behind the careful manner he had carried from childhood.
Note of Thanks
Dr. Donald extends his sincere gratitude to every person who contributed to his upbringing, professional development, spiritual growth and public service. He understands that achievement rarely begins with one individual acting alone. At important moments, someone planted a seed, recognised an ability or offered an opportunity before he could see the full possibility within himself.
His appreciation belongs to those who trusted him with responsibility and invited him to contribute in unfamiliar settings. Their confidence allowed him to grow through work rather than remain confined to what he had already done. Employers, colleagues, church members, public servants and professional associates each helped shape a different part of the journey.
He remains grateful to his brothers, sisters, in laws and those closest to his family, whose presence created strength beyond what could be seen in public appointments or professional recognition. He also acknowledges everyone who shared responsibilities within church ministries, civic bodies and the workplace. Cooperation made demanding tasks manageable and gave service a collective meaning.
Special gratitude is held for those who believed he could make a useful difference within The Bahamas. Their invitations were acts of trust, and he sought to honour that trust through steady effort. Some opened doors, others worked beside him, and many made difficult loads lighter simply by carrying their part faithfully. Every contribution, whether large or quiet, has a place in his story. Rev. Dr. Donald receives that support with humility and offers his thanks to all who helped him become the man, minister, public servant and professional he is today.
thanks,
– Rev. Dr. (H.C.) Donald Kevin Carey