For one last time, the late Kingston College old boy Hugh Anthony Stewart, aka ‘Spongy’ or ‘Stewie’, would leave a reminder that he was Fortis to the bone.

The funeral programme was creatively designed in the form of a fan, thanks to his widow Claudette. It came in handy in the gruelling early afternoon sun. But there was more to it. The presence of the iconic purple and white was no accident.

It was also the theme of the funeral service at the Havenhill Baptist Church, Manning’s Hill Road, St Andrew, on July 28, 2017 where a strong turnout of KC old boys joined in final tribute to the well-loved businessman who passed away on July 15 in his 60th year.

Kingston College Old Boys Association (KCOBA) President Dr Patrick Dallas led the tributes and managed to stir laughter from the mostly sombre body of mourners. Following are excerpts from his tribute:

The records will show that Hugh Anthony Stewart entered Kingston College at the Melbourne Campus on Monday, September 8, 1969. That made him a member of the Fortis 69ers — a group of young men who were committed never to give a six for a nine.

September 8, 1969 was a momentous day for other reasons as well. It was one day after the funeral service of Norman Washington Manley, and it was also the day that Jamaica changed its currency and went from pounds, shillings and pence to dollars and cents. But for us, all of that paled into insignificance when juxtaposed against going to high school. Because it was not just any high school — it was entry into Kingston College and becoming a member of the Fortis Family and being part of the greatest high school tradition in the world!

Being placed in Form 1E, Hugh Stewart and I found ourselves classmates on that most memorable day in 1969. Thus, he, too, would have felt the goose bumps that morning when our French teacher, KC Old Boy Sidney ‘Foggy’ Burrowes, welcomed us to Kingston College and told us — impressionable 11 and 12-year-old boys — that by dint of being KC students, we were now superior human beings.

Hugh, too, would have also felt the burden of that awesome responsibility as Foggy Burrowes went on to tell us that as the ‘chosen few’ we all should value our place at Kingston College because for each of the seat that we were occupying, there were thousands of boys across Jamaica who would be wishing that they could be sitting there. And like me, he too, probably still had on his purple and white KC tie getting up to midnight on September 8, 1969. Chances, too, are that being Hugh, near the end of the first week when he fell during PE session and grazed his knee, he would have noticed his blood taking on a purple hue!

Attending a boys’ school means that one does not have to work too hard to earn a nickname. And so a Hugh Stewart — who apparently had still not yet shed all his baby fat — quickly became known as Spongy. Later in life when Spongy appeared to be an incongruous and anachronistic moniker, he transitioned to the more mundane sobriquet ‘Stewie’, but to us who went to school with him at KC, he was and will always be Spongy.

…Still, Spongy enjoyed his KC days, and he became the quintessential Fortis flag-bearer. Outside of academics, he tried his hand at several sports and extracurricular activities. To hear Spongy tell it was sheer theatre. In his mind’s sketch, Spongy was much more than a trier. In football, he was a star baller who practised the kind of pure altruism that made him hold back on parading all his skills so that others could make the Manning Cup team. He was a batsman of real class, and at the wicket, the only difference between him and the batting manual, Lawrence ‘Yagga’ Rowe, is that he (Spongy) could not whistle. And the only reason that Spongy did not represent KC at Champs is that each year he took too long a time trying to decide whether to do the 400m hurdles and the high jump or to throw the discus and the shot put.

Rumour has it that he even tried to insinuate his way into the French Drama Festival team as part of une strategie tres compliquee ( a complicated strategy) to attract the attention of the good-looking mini-skirted French teacher.

Strange enough, the sport that Spongy was most modest about was the one in which he actually wore the school colours — hockey. Yes, Hugh Anthony Stewart represented Kingston College in field hockey, and was a real star there. Still, Spongy was a very ardent supporter of everything Fortis. Indeed, while he was always known to wear a smile, it was possible to see him take off that smile and become combative should he hear anything unkind said about KC and the Fortis Family.

For my part, I can attest that under that vivacious and cavalier exterior he showed to the world, Spongy was really a quiet and very caring person. I remember him asking me a few years ago to join with him to help out a Fortis colleague who was going through great difficulties. I still remember how noble and persevering Spongy was in his efforts as we faced one challenge after another.

In 2004 when we launched the Fortis 69ers Trust Fund, Spongy was one of the first to contribute. He continued to be a generous contributor and supporter to the Fortis cause right to the end. And even a few weeks ago when we met — and when he would have been struggling with illness — his enthusiasm for KC did not wane. He knocked fists with me over our reinstatement in the Schools’ Challenge Quiz Competition (and chided TVJ for believing that they “could just dismiss Fortis like that”.)

But he also enquired how things were going with the KCOBA, and reminded me of the importance of the association in the life of the school and in maintaining the Fortis tradition. Needless to say, we also chatted about our schoolboy days and the escapades we got up to. There was much laughter when the declarations of great talent, inevitably surfaced again. To the end, Spongy’s joie de vivre was infectious.

Bravely to the end, Spongy battled his debilitating illness. Sadly, on Saturday, July 15, 2017, Spongy left us to embrace ‘sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care’, having already decided to ‘go gentle into that good night’ without ever raging ‘against the dying of the light’. He was Fortis to the end.

— Desmond Allen