Dear Editor,
In a letter in your August 1 Emancipation Day edition, Ms Dawn Holder listed a number of noted Guyanese, but failed to mention two persons who had a direct impact during the late colonial and post-independence period (‘We should commit to understanding our ancestry and heritage’).
I speak of my late brother, Dr Leslie P Cummings, who attended St Stanislaus College, and then was a teacher at that school, before he earned his Masters in Aberdeen, Scotland, and then his PhD in the United States. He later became one of the founding members of the University of Guyana and was Professor and Assistant Vice-Chancellor of UG for a period. Leslie was a geographer, mathematician and statistician.
Dr Cummings was the original ‘Indiana Jones’ of Guyana, being among the first to explore the hinterland to conduct serious geographical and geological studies on Mt Roraima, Kaieteur Falls and other areas of the country. He was the head of the team that explored alternatives for developing a trail from Georgetown to McKenzie, which I believe became the basis of the highway that now is the road to Linden.
Leslie Cummings was a familiar voice on the local radio, and had a popular show on the radio for a period of time. He was a friend of Hamilton Green before the latter became a politician, and I remember the many times as a youngster, we visited Hamilton Green’s house, which I believe was located in the vicinity of Albouystown.
Leslie was the author of many books, including the textbook Geography of Guyana, a publication that was a first for a person of African-Guyanese ancestry. Leslie passed away in California in March 1994, and his ashes are buried in Georgetown’s cemetery.
Another person that was missed from the list of noted Guyanese was Stanley Greaves, the painter and artist. Leslie and Stanley, or SG, as he was known among his friends, were close friends and he visited our house often when he was a struggling, unknown artist. In fact, we had numerous early paintings of SG in our home and alas, as our family departed for Europe, Canada and the United States, these treasured paintings were discarded or lost.
Stanley Greaves was unique in style and imagination and interpretation, especially for a person of Caribbean descent, during that period.
It behoves local scholars and students to do research on these two noted persons. There is much to learn from the lives and times of these talented ten Guyanese.
Yours faithfully,
Philip A. Cummings
