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SYDNEY — The last surviving African-Scottish rookie of World War II has left his mark on the Cape Breton community he called home.
Lemuel Marcus Skeete, 100, was surrounded by family and friends when he died at a Dartmouth long-term care facility on November 6.
Serving as a mechanic in the war, he was stationed overseas and told the Cape Breton Post in a 2014 interview that he felt lucky he didn’t get shot.
After the war, Skeete married the love of his life and created initiatives that helped improve the local economy and the lives of families on Whitney Pier.
“He did everything he could to help people,” said Darcy Skeete, one of his sons. “Dad was a very busy man, but he always found time for his family.”
WAR
Raised on a farm in Donkin, Skeete joined the war effort when he was 19 as a way to escape farm life.
Laughingly, he told the Post in 2014 that he was “running away from work.” Besides, her brother had enlisted in the army.
“I had to go do it too,” he said.
During his time abroad, he led men into action. The biggest danger from him was sniper fire.
But he survived without being shot, something for which he was grateful. However, he did not spend his service without an immediate threat of violence from members of the Allied forces.
While talking to two white women in Holland, some US soldiers saw him and one pulled a knife on Skeete. US military police were nearby and saw the accident, stopping it before it could do any damage.
“I was one of the lucky ones,” he told the Post eight years ago. “I didn’t face any shots being fired at me.”
COMMUNITY DEDICATION
Lem met his wife of 72 years, Olga (Lucas) Skeete, at Glace Bay. Darcy believes that his mother was visiting friends in Glace Bay when she saw her father for the first time. When asked if she would like to meet him, she said no because he seemed a bit swaggering the way he twirled the cane he walked with.
Skeete was the complete opposite. Known as a humble and modest man, he never wanted praise for the things he did that improved the community and the lives of families.
After the marriage, the couple moved to Whitney Pier. Skeete worked at the Sydney steel plant before starting his own business, Lem’s Alignment and Brake Shop.
Seeing a need in the community to support working mothers, she founded the nonprofit Whitney Pier Day Care Center. He also served as chief executive of the United Mission, which was a vital community space for many immigrants who lived nearby and did not venture beyond the tracks to other areas of Sydney.
There, health clinics, marriages and baptisms were held. Employment services were housed there, as well as youth events, including after-school activities and educational help. Every year United Mission hosted a summer picnic, and for decades people like Chester Borden, the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Breton at Whitney Pier, spent their childhoods at United Mission.
“That place became the foundation of what this place is,” he said.
Lem also helped create the Whitney Pier non-profit housing society under which 10 houses were built for members of the community in need.
Darcy said her father “had his heart on his sleeve”, always willing to help, which included not collecting full rent when someone couldn’t pay it.
“No one was ever evicted,” Darcy said.
A member of the Royal Canadian Legion at Whitney Pier, Skeete was part of the Nova Scotia Black Cultural Society and an early Sydney advisor to the Nova Scotia Black United Front.
“It was a great experience for me growing up knowing that dad was trying to help as many people as he could in the community,” Darcy said.
“Trying to motivate them, trying to encourage people to continue their education…he wanted people at Whitney Pier to have all the opportunities that they don’t have in our community. The same opportunities that people had in other communities.”
Although he did not expect awards or accolades, Skeete was recognized for his dedication to the community and his hard work to help improve people’s lives. Among his many awards, Skeete received the Tom Miller Human Rights Award and an honorary diploma from Nova Scotia Community College Trade and Technology School.
Darcy said his father taught him many lessons and saw the Donkin farmer rise above negative comments or rumors in the community.
“Whenever challenges like that came up, he didn’t let them stop him from doing his job,” Darcy said. “From him I learned how to be patient, how to be humble and how to do the right thing and help my neighbor.”
Lemuel ‘Lem’ Skeete
Grew up: Donkin
Parents from: Barbados
Married: Olga Lucas
Children: Six
Family Raised: Whitney Pier
World War II: Mechanics, transportation
Founder: Whitney Pier Day Care Center
Helped create: Whitney Pier Non-Profit Housing Society
Formed: Softball Pony League
Executive Director: United Mission
Loved: Music, baseball
Passionate about: Helping others, community development
