Gene Steede, “Mr Hospitality”, celebrates his 84th birthday today. He considers himself blessed, having experienced significant health challenges that required him to be admitted to hospital for several months. While Gene emerges, still on the mend, he is better able to engage in the joys of life.

Tapping into the tradition of Christmas to foster links in the village, I took Gene out to make some rounds. The first stop that Saturday afternoon was Hamilton Princess & Beach Club, that century-old, iconic venue.

The island’s hotels, up until 1959, barred Blacks from entering through their front doors, notwithstanding that this constituted most staff and entertainers. In the 1960s, Gene and his young wife, Pinky, along with Don Gibson’s Holiday Island Revue and by other burgeoning entertainers, helped to transform that legacy of lemons in leveraging the Spirit of ’59 to create lemonade. It was that renaissance that fostered the golden era of Bermuda hospitality.

While the fortysomething Princess doorman easily recognised Gene, most other staff were clueless in the presence of this legend. The young Bermudian lobby hostess had “heard the name before” and appreciated a briefing on Gene’s legacy — so much so that during our hour-long visit, various staff went out of their way in recognising “Mr Steede”.

Gene reminded me that he grew up in North Village in a family with limited resources, recalling being unable to maintain his school uniforms. However, he enjoyed musical abundance from his parents, siblings and community. The neighbouring Band Room served both as a school and a practice area for the North Village Band, all feeding his artistic passion.

Gene shared that the Princess had been transformed over his long career. I recalled witnessing his fantastic performance at the hotel’s nightclub in the 1980s when our mutual friend, the late Ron Lightbourne, was his pianist. Gene would have the packed audience — mostly tourists — in the palms of his hands and, after a standing ovation as his group gave way to the international main act, would experience that room’s energy fade. The thrill was gone!

Next, we picked up Chris Lambert, a noted pianist who had backed the icon during weekend stints at Holiday Inn. My wife, Deonn, had warmed up some split-pea soup, which we stopped by to enjoy before visiting Summerhaven to see Willard “Foxy” Fox, a longtime champion for the rights of the disabled.

Foxy was a close friend of the late Margaret Carter, a mutual friend of Gene and Ron, who was integral in campaigning for years to establish Summerhaven as a suitable home for the disabled. Gene often served as a volunteer driver for the minibus, transporting the disabled across the island. That same spirit of solidarity shared by these brothers and sisters for the local village extended to the global village.

Gene served as host for a telethon in 1983 on ZFB-TV during which US congresswoman Shirley Chisholm was a special guest, with $60,000 raised for the people of South Africa by the Bermuda Anti-Apartheid Movement. That event was inspired by the sight of Foxy travelling in heavy rain on his motorised wheelchair from Hamilton to St George’s to raise funds of solidarity.

After a farewell song for Foxy, we travelled to the home of Dennis Fox for a bit of carol-singing with that talented pianist’s family.

Our last stop on that Saturday was the family home of Stan Gilbert, who had served as Gene’s bass player for several decades.

On the next evening, with his daughter’s blessing, I picked up Gene again and we attended Chewstick’s open-mike session at Blue Waters Anglers Club, which featured the iconic Joy Barnum and included some mostly younger artists. Host Gavin Smith provided the audience with some of Gene’s contributions and in appreciation, “Mr Hospitality” provided an offering.

Somewhat hoarse from the previous day’s carolling, Gene declined a full song, but did do some “call and response”, leading the audience with the iconic Day-O. He went on with a couple of jokes and a classic five-minute poem about a European princess meeting a Black prince that demonstrated the depth of his artistry.

Gene showed to the younger audience that, even while experiencing grave challenges associated with older age, it was still possible to generously share. This in the spirit of the best of Bermuda’s culture exemplifying a love for neighbours as we love ourselves, no matter from where they come. The essence of hospitality.

• Glenn Fubler represents Imagine Bermuda