The following are excerpts of a tribute from the Sugar Producers' Federation of Jamaica read at Saturday's funeral service for Leighton Duncan at the Providence Methodist Church in St. Andrew.
WE WOULD like to extend our deepest sympathy to the Duncan family on behalf of the management and staff of the Sugar Producers' Federation of Jamaica and the Sugar Manufacturing Corporation of Jamaica as well as extend sincere apologies for the members who were unable to be present with us this morning.
Leighton Asquith Duncan was employed by the Sugar Producers' Federation of Jamaica on September 13, 1971 in the position of administrative assistant, and on January 1, 1981 he was promoted to the position of administrative manager.
"Dunks", as he was affectionately called, became a pensioner on April 30, 1992 but continued working until his "real" retirement which became effective on January 31, 1997.
During his 25 plus years with the Federation he was responsible among other things for the co-ordinating of those sugar estates sports competitions which were organised by the Federation and it is through this activity that he became well known to thousands of sugar workers. Long will we remember his detailed reports each year in respect of each sporting activity which he organised.
Only those of us who were very close to "Dunks" were aware that he knew very little about the game of golf, but in spite of this, he effectively organised the golf competitions and gave indepth reports on those competitions.
As "Dunks" efficiency increased over the years so did his size. In this, he was aided and abetted by Mrs. Cita Thomas at the office who kept him supplied with goodies at all hours of the day, her excuse was "but him love it", ironically, she too increased in size.
There were also other sides to "Dunks", we will not soon forget his cheerful and jovial nature which made working along with him a memorable and pleasurable experience.
