The man who took Grenada to Independence from Britain on February 7, 1974.     

Eric Matthew Gairy, son of Douglas and Theresa Gairy, was born in St. Andrew's on February 18, 1922.      

He received his early education at St. Mary's Roman Catholic School, La Fillette, and the St. Andrew's Roman Catholic School, Grenville.      

As a pupil he achieved very high standards in academic work and took a keen interest in church activities, scouting, school gardening and sports.      

At the age of 12, he was selected to deliver the sermon at the Grenville Roman Catholic Church on the Feast of the Holy Family.   He worked at his old school - St. Mary's R.C. - before migrating to Aruba at the end of 1943.      

During his stay in the Dutch Islands, he completed a correspondence course with a view to studying Law. He, however, abandoned these studies and returned to Grenada.       In August 1948, Eric Matthew Gairy married Cynthia Clyne, a highly talented young lady from St. David's who had already made her mark in the area of social work.      

Returning to Grenada in 1950, he was struck by the deplorable conditions of workers. From 1951, he campaigned relentlessly and successfully to secure better wages and improved working conditions for all workers.     

He established the Grenada Manual and Mental Workers Union' and introduced the system of political parties with the formation of the Grenada United Labour Party which he led to victory in five out of six general elections. In 1972 thirteen out of fifteen seats were won by his Party.      

In his latter years in office, Gairy was dogged by accusations from critics that he promoted a gang of thugs, called the "Mongoose Gang" to terrorize political opponents.     

After being re-elected by 9 to 6 seats in 1976, Sir Eric was eventually toppled from power in a March 13, 1979 coup, d'etat by the New Jewel Movement (NJM) of then Opposition Leader Maurice Bishop.     
He was forced to live in exile in the United States until 1983 when Bishop's marxist experiment came to an end. This followed a bloody battle between hardliners and moderates, for control of the regime.     
Since then, the GULP has lost at the polls on four occasions - in 1984, 1990, 1995 and 1999 - a pale shadow of the party formed by one of the most controversial political figures in the English-speaking Caribbean.

It was a dream which Sir Eric had up until his death, a few years ago, which closed a political chapter in the life of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique.