Rex Nettleford, the man from Bunkers Hill

After hours of searching for individuals who knew Professor Rex Nettleford in his hometown of Bunkers Hill in Trelawny, only two persons could recall their encounters with him.

Rex Nettleford born February 3, 1933 and died February 2, 2010.

An affable senior citizen Rex Minto who resides in Bunkers Hill recounted the days he and Nettleford went to basic school.

"He was the Trelawny's best" he smiled with his single tooth in his mouth. "Rex was a brilliant young boy as he grew up. A man called Teacher Francis took him under his wings and grew him las if he was his own son. There was nothing that Rex did that he was not successful at. He was good at singing and any     cultural activities".                                                                                                  

He remembered as a boy both of them walk through the countryside and play with their slingshots "but he could use the catapoll well" Minto joked "but I would teach him and he learnt quickly".

Minto revealed that after attending the community's primary school, Nettleford moved onto Cornwall College where he continued to excel in academics.

"I am proud to have known that man called Rex Nettleford in my days. You know, he was the first person to pass Common Entrance from our district in those days" the 80 year Minto informed.

Adian Williams-Wilson, a community health aide at the Bunkers Hill Health Centre reminisced on her encounter with Professor Nettleford when she was about eight years old.

"I met him twice when I was very young and it was through some cultural activites at the Granville All-Age school (now Granville Primary and Junior High School). He came by our school to teach us some dance moves and choreograph some of our cultural dance activities. I looked up to him, he was good at what he did" she remembered.

 

Rex Nettleford's old school