Charles Levy
His life … so far

by Charles Levy
(Near Ottawa, Canada)

Charles Levy was born in 1931, the eldest of four male siblings, to Ellis and Ruby Levy, in Kingston, Jamaica.

He was educated at Blake Preparatory School, where he won scholarships to both Wolmers and Jamaica College. Since his Dad was an Old Wolmerian, he was bitterly resentful and disappointed that the latter decided that JC was a superior choice – a decision which in a few years soon won him his son’s everlasting gratitude! After spending six of the happiest years of his life at an institution for which he came to have an enduring love and loyalty, he accepted a scholarship from the Sugar Manufacturer’s Assn. to study Sugar Chemistry at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad (now a part of the UWI).

For five years he worked as a Sugar Chemist, first at Frome and then at New Yarmouth Sugar Factories. But his was a conflicted soul – a classicist masquerading as a scientist, for the love of his life was the English language. In 1962 he immigrated to Canada with his wife Allison and two small sons Mike and Rick, to accept a post as Director of Publications and Public Relations with The Boy Scouts World Bureau in Ottawa. When the Bureau moved to Geneva in 1967, he stayed on in Canada as PR Director for Ottawa Gas, but in 1970, he was offered the position of Manager of Information Services for the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada.

He retired in 1990, but has continued to write and as a committed Christian, to do voluntary work for the church. His publications reflect his love of his early days at school, hiking and sailing (continuing to do the latter in Canada with his wife into his seventies), and reminiscing about life back in Jamaica.

His publications include Hash and Roast Beef, Jamaica Land I love, Songs of a Solitaire and a child’s book written for his grandson on his birth. Adventures of Sean and the Creatures in the Garden.

Charles and Allison now live in a quiet, pleasant little town just outside Ottawa near their daughter, Mary, who was born in Canada and now lives there with her family. He continues to scribble verses to keep his mind active, and has become an octogenerian card prestidigitator of sorts. He also keenly follows his beloved Windies Cricket and is a keen Arsenal fan.

Many thanks to Charles for kindly letting us publish some of his poems on Jamaica-No-Problem.

Any of his poems published here are the sole property of Charles Levy and may not be re-published or copied and used without his permission.