I found out that Steele and I were both from St. Mary, born in January and preferred to listen rather than speak a lot. He had a disarming smile, I usually have a scowl.
My first memory came to life in August 2004 as a new and naïve Rexan at the University of the West Indies. A tall, chocolatey handsome guy with a perfect smile who just stood out from the other seniors who were hell bent on achieving human sacrifices during what university officials call the orientation exercise, which they renamed ‘grubbing’. As much as you describe the others as witches, he could always be counted on to smile at you, say hello, how are you and if needs be offer words of encouragement. The only thing you could do was admire and respect him.
I saw more to him when I started working on the Campus paper with Noelle, if we worked til morning proofreading so everything would be ready for the printers, at some point in that time he would have been there to sort out some computer problems, carry us food and just ensure that everyone especially Noelle was ok, since I am sure he knew that Noelle is an ‘energizer’ and couldn’t really be content with only doing 1 thing at a time.
I saw the business side to Steele when I worked with him and Noelle as they crafted Qtech Communications/Island Stubs. He could be relied on to get us our lunch, he would patiently wait while we contemplated what we would eat even when the options were very limited, where it would be purchased, the time it would take and all the other intricacies involved. If a lizard decided to visit, he would just get rid of it for us…and of course he had a lot of funny weird stories. Most significantly, while Espeut, Tashi and I would talk crap which I’m sure he heard, he was almost always silent; we would get a smile every now and then and when my precious laptop was infested with virus and stuff and he took his time to cleanse it from all those impurities…jus really sorry I couldn’t keep it that way.
He drove us to MoBay for Sumfest 2007 since as part of our duties; we had to do a survey among attendees about ticketing and stuff. He was our entertainer on the journey, with jokes and I think campaigning for an election was taking place so there were many political jabs, he said if the results didn’t work out his way…he would have migrated…he was jus funny…and when we passed his favourite election colours he did an extra toot of the horn..Oh he was just hilarious!!! But then despite the buzz of being at Sumfest he wasn’t thrilled about it at all, so he loyally dropped us off each night and picked us up in the mornings in traffic, amidst chaos and all. There was never hint of him being tired or annoyed, there was jus the smile.
I always thought of writing what I remember of Steele, but I just wanted to hang on to the memories in my head, I was afraid (still am) of putting the memories on paper but I had to following Noelle’s email. The memories just don’t seem right being typed at all. I get teary eyed when I think that I only have memories and I am sorry when I was around him I didn’t tell how much I admired and respected him and how much I would want my lil brother to be like him. I am sorry I didn’t know he was ill so I could have prayed specially for him. I am sorry that that one of the few persons I really look up to is still hurting and I am sorry that Steele is gone.