LACOVIA, St Elizabeth – In death, Neville Brice Lewis managed what he might not have been able to do in life – unite political opponents in a brief moment of solemnity, if not solidarity, as they paid final tribute to a departed colleague.

Hundreds packed the St Thomas Anglican Church in Lacovia yesterday for the official funeral service for the former Cabinet minister and deputy leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) who died December 30, 2006 in Miami, Florida after a bout of illness. He was 76.

The service was significant for the large attendance of politicians from the two major parties – the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) and the Opposition JLP – who were seated side-by-side on the long benches of the age-old country church.

Family members, close friends and a heavy turn-out of residents from the North West St Elizabeth constituency for which Lewis was parliamentary representative for 17 years, jammed the remaining space in the church, and overflowed into a large tent pitched in the church yard.

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, forced to choose between the funeral services of Lewis in St Elizabeth and the much-loved Charles Hyatt in Kingston, read the first lesson in Lacovia, but sent her tribute to Charlie by Tourism Minister Aloun Assamba.

A common theme throughout the tributes to Lewis was his uncommon love for people.

“He (Neville) retained the love of the people in this constituency until the day he died. It is a lot of love that was well placed because Neville loved the people of this constituency perhaps even more than they loved him,” leader of the JLP, Bruce Golding, said of Lewis in his tribute.

“He was armed with a passion for serving, a passion for serving people,” added Golding. “He had a special fire in his heart, especially when it came to the poor and the ignored who were left on the fringes, for those who could not make it without some help.”

Lewis was remembered for the town of Lewisville, St Elizabeth which was named after him for spearheading its construction after rising waters forced the relocation of New Market.

In their tribute, a group of students from the Lewisville High School hailed Lewis as a man who believed in education and a man who supported the school.

Meanwhile, daughter Nicole Lewis, in her tribute on behalf of the family, described her father “as a wonderful husband and a good father who could always be counted on for support”.

Carlene Davis paid tribute in song.

Lewis, who succeeded his father Cleve Lewis in 1976, served as a member of parliament for North West St Elizabeth from 1976 to 1993, minister of security from 1980 to 1983 and minister of local government from 1983 to 1989.

In the end, Lewis was buried at the church cemetery, fittingly beside his father, a former minister of communications and works, in whose footsteps he had followed.