Eardley Ramsay's Obituary
Eardley George Ramsay also known as Bradley to family and King George to friends has stated he was born on a big canopy bed. This canopy bed was in the tiny rural village of Craigie just outside of Middle Quarters in St. Elizabeth, Jamaica. He was born as the first son and second child of Rhoda Bedward and Stephen Ramsay. At his birth, a German missionary wanted to take him as her child as he was such a beautiful baby, while his mother’s father came in to see his grandson and declared him as the “Best Ramsay”. Stories like these that punctuated his birth continued throughout his 100 years of life. A life that reflected the global shifts around him.
His childhood was divided into two when he was accepted to study at Cornwall College, at the time a prestigious boys boarding school in Montego Bay. These years, he described as some of the best of his life. They also intersected with World War II, during which students could see American soldiers stationed in the Bay. He started his work life as a welfare officer, traveling across the island before joining other West Indians of the Windrush Generation and migrated to London, England in 1954. He started studies in Law at Westminster College before leaving to become a Civil Servant, where he remained for many years and where he made lifelong friends.
After twenty years, recently married with a baby girl and another on the way, George started his next adventure with his new wife, Vinton Ramsay, moving to a very unglamorous and bankrupt New York City. He immediately found work as a men's shoes salesman in one of Manhattan’s premier luxury department stores, B. Altman and Company, where his interactions with the clientele added to his vast collection of stories. Shortly before B. Altman went into liquidation, the Ramsay family moved into the suburbs. He took early retirement and involved himself heavily in community, taking various roles in church and the Jamaican Cultural and Civic Association of Rockland County, NY., where he was historian and member of the traveling folk singers.
When Vinton Ramsay retired in 2002, she and George moved to Conyers GA to escape harsh NY winters and be nearer to family. He loved living in Conyers as it reminded him of growing up in rural Jamaica. He was an active member of Epiphany Lutheran Church and the Rockdale and Newton County Senior Centers. He also enjoyed painting at the Sketching Pad in Olde Town and made many friends in Georgia as he did in all the spaces he lived.
George and Vinton’s later years were marked by frequent travel, whether visiting their daughters in Korea, England, and Jamaica or exploring Mexico, Europe, and the Southern United States with them.
Always quick with a witty comment and a fascinating story, George brought people together. He was a modern-day griot, who, based on West African tradition, is defined as a storyteller, historian, preserver of oral tradition, genealogy, and cultural history. A gracious, kind, and gentle man, wherever he was, George welcomed and was welcomed.
George is predeceased by his wife of over 50 years, his brothers Elbert and Father Kenneth Ramsay and sister Wilma Ramsay. He is survived by his daughters, Abigail and Alison, his sisters, Joyce Thompson and Sybil Davis, as well as his nephews and their children.
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