LATE People’s National Party (PNP) Member of Parliament for St Mary South Eastern, Dr Winston Green, was last Saturday hailed as “a passionate nation builder” when family, friends, colleagues, and constituents gathered at St Andrew Parish Church to bid him farewell.

Green, 58, died suddenly on the morning of August 14 after collapsing at his home in St Andrew. He was serving his second term as MP.

Scores of mourners filled the Anglican church in Half-Way-Tree, among them parliamentarians from both the Upper and Lower House, offering little to no room for late comers desperate to closely follow the two hour-long service which began at 11:00 am.

Occasional pockets of laughter escaped the lips of mourners as tributes from family and colleagues reflected on the life of service and sacrifice of the Cuba-trained dentist who, up to days before his death, had concluded a back-to-school health fair in his constituency.

Opposition Leader and PNP President Dr Peter Phillips summed up Dr Green’s years in and outside of public office as the best of both the Jamaican society and the party he served.

“While some 75 per cent of our university graduates sought opportunities abroad, Winston Green chose to remain in the land of his birth and dedicate his life and his talent to the service of the Jamaican people.

“Even as he established his dental practice, he joined the Rotary Club of Kingston where he remained an active member for 22 years, and at the time of his death he was a director. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity — the Sussex Lodge — and his colleagues also elected him vice-president of the Dental Association of Jamaica,” Phillips told mourners, adding that Green’s civic commitment, service to community, and love of his fellow men and women were second nature to him.

He said Green’s life of integrity and service provided an example worthy of emulation for young people, and that he was one who “laboured to realise dreams”.

Speaking on behalf of the Sussex Lodge and the Kingston Rotary Club, colleague Michael Fennell said that while Green was not famous for flare or charisma, he was known for his solid and unassuming approach to leadership.

Fennell said he was a generous person who gave freely of his professional talents and other resources to worldly causes.

Nephew Carlyle Burger told of Green’s early encounters with the PNP, sharing that his sister would force him to attend political meetings or collect beatings, evoking laughter from the congregation. Since that time, he said Green pledged his full support to the party. Added to that, he painted his uncle as “an extended family” to his constituents in St Mary South Eastern.

“He wasn’t only their member of parliament, but their dentist, friend, father, brother, [and] mentor,” Burger said. “Never let him go.”

Member of Parliament for St Mary Central Dr Morais Guy described Green as a lover of the ordinary and extraordinary people.

“While we grieve of his passing we can also celebrate a life of his giving, a life of selflessness, a life lived by one who himself had great sacrifices just to be with and just to serve his people,” Guy shared.

Green was interred at Meadowrest Memorial Gardens in St Catherine.