Goodbye, Guy

“The time has come” as Guy would have said.
Guy passed away at 11:55pm on August 7, 2019.
My sadness is enormous.
Much Love
Loretta

___________________


Loretta, how did you and Guy meet?

“Guy was working at the Castle Harbour Hotel where his dad was chef. Prince Charles stayed at the Castle Harbour when Guy worked there. It was March 12, 1971. I was 24 yrs old and wondering what to do with my life. I decided to vacation in Bermuda with several women I met while working at Bennett Brothers in NYC. I went straight to the beach called John Smith’s Bay. I set my towel on the beach and almost immediately a cute young man (22 yrs old) came up to me with an alarm clock ringing saying in a very heavy French accent, “The time has come.” And I said oh, brother! The rest is history. I remember it as though it were yesterday.”

What was Guy doing on the beach with an alarm clock?

"Guy worked a split shift as a cook. After the lunch service he had a few hours off before the dinner prep. Being a Pisces and lover of the sea he would moped to the beach every afternoon with the only clock he had, his alarm clock, to tell him when to head back to work."

Then what?

"We fell in love and I wanted to stay with Guy. I got a job at the new Holiday Inn being built at the end of the island. I had to leave the country for 6 weeks to get my working permit to enter the country legally to work. (We were both miserable separated). The Holiday Inn at the time was considered very elegant. Our dorms had air conditioning which none of the older well-established hotels had. I worked at the poolside counter and used to make Guy special milkshakes on the sly.

I remember huddling by the tennis courts watching a hurricane develop at the Point of St. Catherine. We had box seats watching the clouds loom, the winds howl, and expecting to possibly not live to morning. To console ourselves we ate rum raisin ice cream thinking this might be our last supper as the 65mph winds blew our hair straight back and brought tears to our eyes. Luckily the predicted massive hurricane fizzled out and we got up next morning to go to work. Ah, to be young and stupid again!”

And what was the wedding like less than a year later?

“After we did our 'swearing in' as to our eligibility to get married we awaited news from Gibraltar for permission to marry. But we had a problem. It so happened at this point in time that Franco in Spain had closed the border to Gibraltar which is under British sovereignty and no one could enter Gibraltar from Spain. Guy’s uncle took us from his home in Estepona, Spain illegally to Gibraltar on his yacht. Aunt and Uncle were our witnesses and the ceremony was less than 5 minutes. Our 18 karat gold bands bought in Gibraltar cost $5 and $7 which we shortly lost on other trips to South America. Guy made us all a beautiful vanilla soufflé which was fabulous and makes my mouth water to this day just thinking about it. The day was February 18, 1972."

Thanks to Beth Naylor, Loretta's friend in Eugene for sharing their email exchange above.

Guy 1971?








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