WHEN Frank Gayle first walked through the doors of the Jamaica National Heritage Trust (JNHT) to take up a job as labourer, he was 21 years old. Now 34 years later, he is still with the Trust but has climbed the rungs to become technical assistant for conservation of artefacts and the preservation of ornaments.

Other positions he has held are assistant artefacts officer and conservation lab attendant. Gayle admitted the climb has not been easy but pointing specifically to the opportunities for broadening his knowledge, described it as extraordinary. Some of the courses he has had to do over the years are conservation and restoration of pre-Columbian artefacts, diving, and Spanish.

“I enjoy [my job]. If I didn’t enjoy it I would have left it a long time ago,” he told the Observer. “Certain things that others can’t manage, they come to me and I will help them out (because) of the experience and the training I get.”

So reads the stories of several other employees of the Trust, including Dorrick Gray, Marlene Payton and Edward McKoy, who, along with Gayle and 82 of their colleagues, were last Thursday honoured for long and dedicated service to the organisation.

“I feel good about it because is not everywhere you go in any organisation that people get this kind of recognition, so I appreciate this one,” Gayle said, looking at the disc he was awarded, which may well have been labelled platinum since he was the longest serving JNHT staffer in attendance. Other than his, awards were given in three categories: gold (20-30 years), silver (15-19 years) and bronze (14-19 years).

For his 29 years, Gray, the Trust’s director of archaeology, received a gold award, while Payton, the senior accountant, and McKoy, a gardener/landscaper, were awarded silver discs for 18 and 19 years respectively.

And while years of service was the primary nominating factor for the awards, the Trust said the awardees had proven to be highly dedicated and loyal to the organisation, and that they enjoyed their jobs. Those levels of satisfaction only become apparent when you strike up a conversation and listen to the personal stories of success and growth.

“I applied in 1980 for the position of tour guide and operator of audio-visual equipment,” said Gray. I had been to the museum before while I was in high school so I thought it was something I could do. I organised tours for Fort Charles and was having the time of my life,” he said.

By the following year, when the Institute of Nautical Archaeology was established under Edward Seaga and the Jamaica Labour Party-led government, Gray’s interest in archaeology had grown so much that he was soon after promoted to artefacts officer for underwater treasure. Three years later, he went to Russia to pursue a Master’s degree in the history of archaeology and is now pursuing a PhD in the same field at Syracuse University in New York.

Why has he stayed with the JNHT this long? “We needed a core of Jamaican archaeologists to do our own work, to preserve our own heritage so I stayed to help to develop them,” Gray said. The Trust now has six trained Jamaican archaeologists.

The thread of starting in an entry-level position and ascending the corporate ladder runs in Payton’s story as well.

“I started at the JNHT by working for a month for someone who was on leave, but when the time was up the senior accountant at the time said, ‘I can’t let you leave’, so she assigned me to work on some backlog documents. Then the payroll clerk left and I got that position and from there…

“The experience working at the JNHT has been a great one because I have learnt a lot. Before I came to the Trust, I knew nothing about heritage. I did not do history in fourth or fifth form so I am really happy that I came to work here.

Also, in the accounting field I have also learned a lot. It was my first job really, and now I have gone to the stage where I can prepare a financial statement . I am really and truly grateful to the JNHT and I really love the work that they are doing in terms of preserving the national heritage, therefore I am willing to stay on for as long as it takes,” said Payton who is now completing accounting certification courses.

As with the others, McKoy’s journey at the heritage trust has been no less remarkable.

He started there as a watchman in 1990 but didn’t let his title restrain him in terms of job function.

“It’s not one job I do in the organisation,” he told the Observer. “Anything they ask me to do I do it. Sometimes I go out in the field and do excavations or set up equipment.

“It’s not that I couldn’t get another job, but the environment is good,” he said.