Parliamentarians and senators have paid tribute to Johnny Barnes, who died in the early hours of last Saturday at the age of 93.

In the House of Assembly yesterday, several MPs rose to express their condolences to Mr Barnes’s family as well as share their memories of Bermuda’s “Mr Happy”.

Michael Dunkley, the Premier, said Mr Barnes “changed Bermuda”, describing him as “a man who gave some good spirit to Bermuda every day”.

One Bermuda Alliance MP Jeff Sousa remembered Mr Barnes as “a very religious and loving man who loved to garden and loved Bermuda”. Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, the Minister of Home Affairs, recollected how Mr Barnes would pick her and her siblings up when he worked as a bus driver and take them to Spanish Point free of charge.

Meanwhile, Progressive Labour Party MP Dennis Lister said Mr Barnes would be greatly missed by his Seventh-day Adventist family. Earlier in the week, Senator Renee Ming, of the PLP, said Mr Barnes would be greatly missed.

The OBA’s Vic Ball echoed the sentiments, describing Mr Barnes as an ambassador for his country. He added: “It is very infrequent that someone has a statue made of them before their death but that is the kind of ambassador he was.”

Senator Joan Dillas-Wright said: “We will all treasure the memory of what he did.”