There is a sad face to the right of the front door ... and a happy face to the left (in the photo at left). - Photo by Mel Cooke

THE VIEW from a concrete seating and lookout area at the edge of the well-kept lawn and garden high in the hills of Gordon Town, St Andrew, is a mixture of the hues that people have made and the greenery that nature has provided.

Nature dominates, though, in the irregular V-shape of the valley leading towards Papine, with asphalt, rooftops, a bridge and the occasional motor vehicle playing a subsidiary role.

It is a view that the Coverleys, Eric 'Chalk Talk' Coverley and Louise Bennett-Coverley, would have enjoyed regularly and which Janet Mignott now savours thoroughly.

At one point, they shared the view, too, as Mignott lived in a flat on the property while the Coverleys lived in the main house.

no takers

When they put it up for sale on the local and overseas markets for a year, there were no takers and the Coverleys had actually moved to Canada, then returned for a solemn Christmas visit.

Mr Coverley's sister, Miss Ivy, had died, and the home in Gordon Town had been locked up. Miss Lou encouraged Mignott to make the considerable sacrifice and buy it.

"She said what she was about to tell me people would say she was arrogant," Mignott told The Sunday Gleaner.

Miss Lou told her, "You buy it. When I die I will be an icon and it will be priceless."

Mignott took the advice, but told Miss Lou it was still her home. "To me, it is as much a part of her," Mignott said.

So there are public tours of the property as part of the annual 'Tenky Miss Lou' birthday celebrations that are held in Gordon Town by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission in late September.

On Miss Lou's first trip back to Jamaica after Eric Coverley died, Mignott says she came directly to his room.

"She was sombre throughout the evening," Mignott said. "She said she was pleased with what we had done, except we took down her outside lights."

goodbye

Mignott had just booked a ticket to go see Miss Lou in Canada when she got the news that she had died. However, Miss Lou had actually said her goodbye before, although Mignott did not realise it at the time.

At the end of their final phone conversation, Miss Lou sang the entire hymn from which she took the traditional farewell blessing, 'walk good', in what Mignott says was "the most angelic voice".

Much of the Coverleys' presence remains, even after the Institute of Jamaica and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts culled the house for artefacts. And Mignott went through thoroughly after that, finding things like Miss Lou's mother's birth certificate.

Among Mignott's plans for the house is an expansion of the area tailor-made for the expansive view, with more seats so more persons can join the ghosts of Maas Ran and Miss Lou in looking down the beautiful valley.