Distinguished Jamaican actor and impresario Eric Coverley was yesterday reinterred at National Heroes Park in Kingston, three days before his recently deceased wife, Louise ‘Miss Lou’ Bennett-Coverley, will be laid to rest beside him in what veteran journalist and playwright Barbara Gloudon described as “the closing chapter in a great love story”.

According to Gloudon, the love shared by the Coverleys rivalled classic romances like Romeo and Juliet and Tristan and Isolde. “I am here to tell you that they loved each other very, very, very much,” Gloudon told the small gathering of close friends and family members of the couple.

Eric Coverley passed away in Canada in 2002, was buried in that country and a memorial service held in his honour in Jamaica. However, in fulfilment of the last wishes of Miss Lou to be buried beside her husband, Coverley’s remains were flown home with hers on Saturday.

Miss Lou passed away in Canada on July 26.

Noting that it was only fitting that Miss Lou would be buried beside her husband, Gloudon said, “Miss Lou will arrive on Wednesday. He (Coverley) gone down to make sure everything alright.” The quip drew a ripple of laughter from the gathering.

Gloudon described Coverley as a great man who provided Miss Lou with support and back-up, adding that many “great men had been known to provide support for great women”.

In a moment akin to the ones in which both individuals had drawn laughter from their respective audiences, Gloudon noted that after having sung It Was Under The Coconut Tree together in life, the couple would now rest under a Poinsettia tree which overhung the burial spot.

Coverley, she said, was a great Methodist and an artist extraordinaire.

Yesterday, 84-year-old Frank Gordon, a trade unionist and long-time friend of Coverley, told the Observer that he was proud to be able to witness the reinterment of the man he had known well in life.

Clutching a pair of decorative hands clasped in prayer which were used to decorate the coffin but later detached by Coverley’s son Fabian and distributed to some guests, Gordon said though Miss Lou’s passing was a “great loss to the Arts, it enriches lives. To bring them back to Jamaica is a great joy. She has left a legacy that can’t die”.

A cultural connoisseur, actor, radio personality and humourist, Coverley was also a show producer. In fact, it was he who gave Miss Lou her first gig.

He has also played in several Jamaican pantomimes and movies. Among the films was Dr No, the first of the James Bond series, sections of which were filmed in Jamaica.

In addition to Fabian, Coverley’s grandson Clayton Coverley, as well as former Information Minister Senator Burchell Whiteman and wife, along with Opposition member of Parliament Olivia Grange were present.

Officiating ministers were the Rev Ruth Anne Goldson and Rev Dr Claude Cadogan of the Coke Methodist Church.