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The Hussey family
From hotel to horse-racing
BY DESMOND ALLEN
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Isn't it amazing how people who live through adversity so frequently seem to come through in a blaze of glory? In the triumph of the human spirit, truth is always to be found in that which says that the darkest hour comes just before the dawn. Lawrence Francis Hussey, known to his friends and admirers as Laurie, should not have become the success he is today, with interests stretching from hotel to horse-racing, if the script had been scrupulously followed.
Diagnosed with a brain tumour at age 13, hospitalised for three months, the odds definitively stacked against him, who could tell that this boy would have made it to manhood, let alone become head of a thriving family business that takes its place among the success stories of modern Jamaica?
In the days of the horse and buggy, Kingston and St Andrew grew up on the milk produced by Hussey's Dairy on a sprawling 7,000-acre farm at Salt Island Road, St Catherine and which was owned by Laurie's dad, Outram Wormald, the first Jamaican to sell pasteurised milk. It is this ball that Laurie Hussey would take and run with. And when Cupid brought him into the even-now captivating arms of Ruth Angeline Campbell, he had found a lifetime partner in love and business.
These days, Laurie Hussey, 71 years old in less than a month's time, is back where he, and his ancestors before him, had started - farming the land. But his has been an eventful journey that would cement the Hussey name in the annals of business in Jamaica, even if at times it appeared dreadfully uncertain.
The Hussey name is big in farming and horse-racing, dating back to great-grandfather and grandfather who both had farms. His own dad rode a horse to school at St George's College. Later daddy Hussey owned "Blue Streak", a horse which was well known in his time for winning the Jamaica Derby and the Trinidad and Tobago Derby in 1947.
Laurie's mother is Mary Ethlyn Hussey nee Nation and his siblings are: Dorothy Hussey now Jung; Ronald Hussey; Ferdie Hussey (deceased); Mary Hussey Mooney who lives in Australia; Celene Hussey Bateman residing in Canada and Outram Hussey Jr, a professor of architecture at the Howard University, Washington, who handles the architectural works for the family.
The spirit of independence which would serve Laurie Hussey to no end in later years, was developed early at boarding school at DeCarteret which he entered at age seven, recalling how his mother had tricked him into believing that he was on an excursion by train. At the Williamsfield, Manchester station, she jumped off the train and he soon found himself with other new boarders in a truck heading for the prestigious school where he started to make a name in sports.
At age 11, he was sent to Jamaica College. He had scarcely been there for two years when he was diagnosed with a brain tumour that would mark the end of formal schooling for him. He was taken to a Jewish hospital in Brooklyn, New York, where he underwent experimental surgery, involving deep cobalt treatment, forerunner to today's chemotherapy. The illness dealt a cruel blow to the youngster.
"I spent three months in the hospital and I could not retain anything (memory). My education was therefore disrupted at 13," Hussey recalls now.
Back at home, his father decided to send him to the Monymusk Sugar Estate to learn the proper way to plant sugar cane. Sugar was still king and old man Hussey had seen an opportunity to diversify from cattle. He spent two years at Monymusk and looked to the future.
Thinking that his youngest son was ready for serious responsibility, daddy Hussey sold him 150 acres of farm land to rear cattle and plant sugar cane and rice. He stood security for a loan from the Bank of Nova Scotia and his son can now boast that "I paid back the bank the following year". Hussey named his farm the "Everglades".
He had diligently applied the lessons he had learnt at Monymusk and reaped dividends. His sugar cane had high sucrose content and was lapped up by the Bernard Lodge factory, which regarded him as their best producer.
"It turned me into a young man rather quickly," says Hussey who was only 15 when he became a farm manager.
"I also liked the fact that I was able to buy a Zephyr Zodiac car and paid cash for it."
Something else helped to turn Hussey into a man overnight. He was at a party one night when he saw the girl who would later become his wife. She was only 13 at the time and when she could date, he had to take her two sisters with them. On February 5, aged 20, he married Ruth Campbell and has had her at his side ever since. They have five children:
. Michelle Hussey runs the Terra Nova Hotel in St Andrew and the Eurowear store located at that premises
. Charles Hussey, the big-name Jamaican jockey is a rider/owner who also assists his brother in breeding mares and stallions
. Percival Hussey is a top horse trainer and breeder who inspired the setting up of the Monte Carlo gaming room at the Terra Nova Hotel and assists in running their Super Cleaners dry-cleaning establishment
. Angeline Hussey runs the Discount Pharmacy at Manor Park and oversees the group accounts
. Andrew Hussey, a former Air Jamaica pilot, operates the Liguanea Lane Pharmacy.
Laurie Hussey acknowledged to himself that he was a lucky man. He had recovered from an uncertain surgery for a terrible brain tumour; had bought a farm and repaid the loan in no time and had married a beautiful woman. Life was kind. Some time after his marriage, he moved with his wife to Kingston where the lights were brighter and the opportunities faster.
By now, his father was getting on in age and wanted to reduce his involvement in farming. He exchanged the 150-acre farm for a 2,300-acre farm which Hussey says was not doing well. He in turn sold the farm. With horses in his background, it was not surprising that he used some of the money from the sale of the farm to go into horse-breeding and horse-trading, working with well known names such as Terry Causwell, L C McKenzie and Alan Chin Yee, among others.
In time he came to own a famous filly called "Luss" which he had bought from Andrew Aguilar. It was trained by the well known Abbie Grannum. "She created history for me when she raced at the Knutsford Park, now known as New Kingston. I am one of only five people in racing today who raced at Knutsford Park," Hussey beams as he says it.
Not satisfied with just horse-breeding and training, Hussey decided to become a distributor. He worked long days, scouring the St Andrew hills to buy produce such as cabbage, iceberg lettuce, carrots and other vegetables which he sold to supermarkets and hotels. He also bought lobster from the fishermen coming in from the Pedro Cays.
When his wife established her Ruth Hussey Fashions at East Queen Street, downtown Kingston in 1967, he also helped her. She rented a store at Lane Plaza in Liguanea and called it Exquisite Fashions. They then expanded into the dry-cleaning business, acquiring Super Cleaners which now has eight branches in the Corporate Area, employing about 100 workers.
At one stage they opened 24 hours and still today handle a good deal of government contracts. Son-in-law Anthony Harris, married to Angeline, assisted in their acquisition of the dry-cleaning business.
This acquisition only served to whet the Husseys' appetite. In 1989, they rented the United Pharmacy owned by long-time farming friends and neighbours, Gilbert and Lurline Chin at Lane Plaza. Angeline was put in charge of the pharmacy.
As it would be throughout their business life, the Husseys knew very little about pharmaceuticals before venturing into the sector. The pharmacy now covers the space of 10 stores, half the number of stores in Lane Plaza, with Andrew at the helm.
"Each time a neighbouring store-owner left, we rented the vacant store. The pharmacy has done very well over the years," Hussey says. "People believe we own the plaza."
In 1994, Gilbert Chin's brother, Stanley Chin called Laurie Hussey and told him he was selling a small supermarket called Discount Store at Manor Park and he wanted him to buy it. "I told him we did not have the money but he insisted that we must have it. So we shook hands on the deal and I went to the bank yet again for a loan to buy the store. The banks have been good to us," Hussey recounts, singling out BNS and CIBC, now First Caribbean International Bank.
The store now called Discount Centre Pharmacy became the first in Manor Park to open until 11 pm and on Sundays. It employs a staff of 50 under the 'figures genius' Angeline, who moved from Liguanea Lane which also employs some 50 staff.
In 2001, Percy came up with what seemed at the time a wild idea to set up a gaming suite, Hussey relates. Michelle was the only one who agreed to explore the idea and went with Percy to the Terra Nova to rent space. "We were told that it was on lease with an option to buy in the seond year and since we were not ready for that, we shelved the idea," explains Michelle. But that was not to be the end of it.
The 92-year-old Terra Nova, a lush garden of quietude on Waterloo Road, St Andrew, was once home to music mogul Chris Blackwell of Island Records, whose family bought it from the original owners, the Lindos. Abe Issa bought it and turned it into a hotel and restaurant in 1959. It changed hands several times, until it became the property of Guardian Life.
But its future had the Hussey name written all over it.
After some time had passed, the Husseys were again encouraged to lease the Terra Nova Hotel, and this time Michelle decided to accept the challenge.
They leased the property for two years, with the option to purchase. This was 2001. It transpired that Michael Lee Chin's NCB was holding its launch at the hotel when one of the bank's executives, impressed with the grandeur of the occasion, offered the bank's services to Michelle.
After a family discussion, it was agreed to take up the NCB offer, seek a loan and purchase the hotel. The decision made sense. During the lease period, the Husseys had found that the hotel was more badly run-down than they had at first thought and a humongous amount of work, starting with the kitchen, had to be done to bring it back to its former glory.
"It was a nightmare. We had to keep it open while doing the renovations," Hussey says. A generator was put in and after the purchase, 13 rooms were added to bring the total to 35 rooms. The Terra Nova is now a beauty to behold and Michelle Hussey gushes when she talks about it. "We're naturally very proud of the work," she adds.
Once the hotel was in Hussey hands, Percy, with strong support from Angeline, dusted off his gaming room idea and today the hotel, which employs some 120 staff, houses the Monte Carlo Gaming Room which attracts close to 400 patrons a night, playing 148 machines. This time, the family sought refinancing through the RBTT bank, following their old CIBC manager Paul Lyn, whom they describe as a consummate professional.
In 2004, Laurie Hussey started to reminisce about the good old farming days and to yearn for the land. Unable to resist, he bought back the 150-acre Everglades, admitting that "it is all sentiment, farming is in my culture". Then saying Everglades was too small, he bought another 300 acres off the Old Harbour Road, St Catherine and is clearing it for tree-crop planting. Part of the plan is to put 120 acres into cashew, from which he hopes to process oil as a pharmaceutical.
He has handed over his horse-training activities to eldest son Percy and, with the assistance of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority and the Bee Association, has established beehives for the purpose of pollinating the cashews.
"I'm really very excited about it," he beams.
He is equally excited about a new hobby, cycling, introduced to him by Angeline, and has been competing at the top of his age group on runs as far away as Negril in Westmoreland and Montego Bay, St James. Not bad for a boy who was not supposed to have made it from a Jewish hospital bed in New York 58 years ago.
The Hussey family
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