Cayman Islander: Larry's Cayman Years
Larry moved to Cayman in February 1995 to help his good friend Charlie Murray manage his business, Cayman Glass; he disliked the cold weather in Montreal so the move to Cayman was a way of avoiding a couple winters! Larry committed to two years with Cayman Glass but this turned into 14 years! He moved in with Charlie and Fiona at their home in Buena Vista and enjoyed many good times with them, boating, "flirting with chicks", or just hanging out with friends being the ever friendly, happy, entertaining and very sociable gentleman. Whilst boating was a favourite pastime for them, Charlie recalls that Larry was not so much into fishing. They once went to 12 Mile Bank and Larry caught a marlin; the marlin put up a hard fight so Larry needed some time to lay back and recover. Unbeknownst to him during that time the marlin was released by another friend on the fishing trip; after fifteen minutes of recovery time Larry asked “where is my fish?!“. To his disbelief all they had was a picture of the marlin! Needless to say there were no more fishing trips for Larry!
Larry enjoyed his time working at Cayman Glass; he got to meet so many different people through the business and the staff grew to appreciate and respect him although they initially resisted the changes he brought, including a computer! He once told Charlie “the computer stays or I go”; anyone familiar with Cayman Glass would know that it operated the old-fashioned way with thousand dollar job orders being scribbled by hand on a piece of ‘recycled’ paper and then ‘filed’ on a piece of wire. Despite some resistance Larry made as many changes as he could and continued on because, as he always said “the job is not stressful but just challenging enough to keep my brain ticking”. It irked Charlie when Larry would take vacation from a Tuesday or Wednesday because that meant he would actually have to show up at work for a few hours…Charlie thought Larry’s vacation should always start on Saturday with a return to work the following Monday! Larry was down to earth and genuine; a ‘male plain Jane’; Charlie gave him an old Daihatsu Rocky to drive, no A/C, and Larry happily drove around in it, windows down, waving to everyone…he later ‘moved up’ to a Lite Ace Van with A/C and no more hand signals! One day as Larry used to tell it, Charlie showed up at Cayman Glass and said “I like the way things are going; I’m not coming back to work!” and he walked away, leaving Larry generally in charge of the business. And so it was, Larry was seen as the true Manager of Cayman Glass for many years; he always had a great laugh telling the story about his experience as a witness in a Court case a few years after living in Cayman; the Judge at the time was a Jamaican lady who was known personally to Larry and Charlie. Larry was called to take the stand and the Judge very professionally asked him to state his name and occupation; when Larry stated that he was the ‘Assistant Manager of Cayman Glass’ the Judge with a mischievous smile on her face asked him loudly “Mr. Johnston, if you are the Assistant Manager of Cayman Glass can you please enlighten me on who the Manager is?” She knew very well that Charlie was not really showing up to work any longer and that Larry was managing the business. Larry resigned from Cayman Glass in June 2011 in order to set up his own company and get involved in expanding and moving forward his son Greg’s own business Architech Solutions which he successfully accomplished.
Just a couple months after moving to Cayman Larry met Shirley May and so began a long love affair, filled with ups, downs, twists and turns, and much love that kept them together through it all. As Larry often described it to friends “I came to Cayman for two years but Shirley May messed up my entire plan”. It took some time for Shirley May to settle Larry down though, as initially his favourite pastime was still ‘flirting with chicks’ but sure enough she did, and over time they grew stronger and closer together. They fell in love and shared many wonderful years; one of their favourite things to do was just chill, whether it was a long weekend at a condo on Seven Mile Beach, a Resort on the East End, or short trips over to the Sister Islands, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, Larry was happy and content with the peace and calm of a beach chair or a hammock and some nice shade. Larry and Shirley May were once nick-named ‘the hammock people’ by tourists on Little Cayman because they spent so much time just lazing in the hammocks. All of Shirley May’s family, friends and co-workers totally embraced and loved Larry; he enjoyed being surrounded by her sisters and often declared without hesitation that Rosemarie was his favourite! Shirley May’s friends quickly became Larry’s friends and they enjoyed many good times together; the girls loving his charm and the guys having great laughs at ‘chick’ stories Larry was always ready to give them! During Larry’s short period of illness while still in Cayman, family and friends helped out in every way they could; at one point Larry said to close friend Edna, “I feel so special; like royalty”. We are all thankful that Larry’s period of illness was brief, he didn’t care for Hospitals, needles, and illness in general but through it all, we can know that he felt special, like royalty.
Larry formed numerous friendships and acquaintances in Cayman; everybody he met loved and respected him and he had a story to tell about each of them. Cayman was special to Larry; he loved the simplicity of Island life; he loved that everybody and everything was pretty much around the corner; he loved that he bumped into the same people all the time. Cayman fit right in with Larry's completely laid-back personality; he never stressed about anything and he often spoke about how much he appreciated the stress free lifestyle of Cayman. Larry was so proud to wear his Cayman T-shirt that declared him LOCAL’ISH; he knew that Cayman loved him too!
There are so many positive words to describe Larry. He was a gentleman! A humble man! Loyal! Genuine! Generous! A great man! Larry had a special way of making everyone feel comfortable…and that smile! That smile that was ever present; one could not help but love Larry! His love for life provided him with so many experiences it almost seemed impossible that one person could have so many intriguing stories in a lifetime but Larry did! We can all be comforted knowing that in his 68 years Larry thoroughly enjoyed and lived his life to the fullest.
Larry was blessed and he was a blessing! He loved life and life loved him right back!
Cayman is tearfully missing Larry! May his soul rest in peace.