There was a time, so long ago that it's hard to remember that it wasn't always so, that the name Hal Greaves became synonymous with measured interventions in troubled communities.
Before that happened, he was a young man working at Advance Dynamics, immersing himself in technology, copywriting and the business of creating fantasies in the service of business, but there was always a restless aspect of him that looked around and saw all that was missing.
Then he took the part of Uncle Roy, a bearded, patient voice in the world of social intervention documentaries.Partnered with his foil, Gloria, played by Dawn Henry, he became the most visible and lasting voice of sober engagement in the troubled communities of T&T.
At some point, Hal Greaves must have looked at the impact of the show, considered how Roy and Gloria were finding a connection with these communities and decided to take that process one critical step further, leaving the safety of acting in front of cameras to take his show on the road.
It was a remarkable run, particularly since it soon became clear that while the people he met with cheerfully alternated between "Uncle Roy" and "Hal," it was the honesty, respect and enthusiasm of the man that resonated with them. Mr Greaves would eventually establish a mutually beneficial relationship with the T&T Police Service, but he never became an agent of national security, carefully treading a crumbling line in communities that are unforgiving of untrustworthiness and double dealing.
In Laventille, which became something of an adopted community for a man who was born and lived in San Fernando, he became that rarest of persons, an agent of civil society whose word and presence were both accepted and respected by an angry underclass.
It's not surprising to discover that when Hal Greaves passed away at his Rushworth Street home in San Fernando, his head and heart were engaged with Laventille and the plans for a children's Christmas party he hoped to hold there.
It was not an easy run. Performing at the 29th Talk Tent at Queen's Hall in February 2012, Gloria Henry told the audience that Mr Greaves had suffered a heart attack just four months before and their performance was an effort to encourage people to take better care of their health.
Hal Greaves never lost sight of the power of performance, humour and drama to bring home messages that might seem preachy otherwise. His beliefs were clear. Young men need to understand their power and use it wisely to uplift their families and communities. He encouraged young people to stay in school and worked to evangelise the advantages of book learning and a formal education in the communities he worked in.
He wrote a book, The Portal, about what he observed in crime hot spots. Most recently, he formalised his efforts as Project REASON, an acronym for Resolve Enmity, Articulate Solutions, Organise Neighbourhoods.
Since 2006, he had made Laventille a key element of his efforts, seeing the patterns born there replicated in new hot spots in far-flung communities.
"Laventille is not a place anymore," he said, "Laventille is a culture. They are seeing that Laventille defies the system and Laventille wins." In the face of guns and a casual disregard for the value of life, Hal Greaves went to Laventille and other hot spots and talked.
When authority saw these troubled communities as problems to be solved by force, he met people on their own terms and started conversations.
The actor became a "violence interrupter," advocating discussion and reasoning together over assault and killing. It is, he often said, "a slow, hard process." And now for him, it is over. May his example be modelled. May he rest in peace.
