Family and friends packed St Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church for a service celebrating the life of Benny Sousa.

Marius Luksza officiated at Thursday’s ceremony. The hymns Be Not Afraid, The Lord is My Shepherd, Songs of the Angels and Here I Am Lord, were led by Sandra Abraham with Toni Bari at the organ.

In the churchyard there was another setting — nearly a traffic jam — as people were attracted by the horse-drawn hearse and riders of the Bermuda Hunt Club, strikingly mounted on their well-groomed horses.

Benjamin “Benny” Sousa lived a long and fruitful life.

He was 92 at the time of his death and blessed with a buoyant and exuberant personality that was high-spirited and caring.

He always showed great affection for others and was indeed a man of the people.

Anyone who crossed his path was always disarmed by his affectionate smile and calm demeanour.

He was a man of humble beginnings who, during the many decades of his life, rose to become a highly respected and successful businessman.

He was able to amass a substantial fortune over many decades as a mason and building contractor.

The houses he built still form part of the landscape of every one of the island’s nine parishes.

Benny was a great environmentalist, and a lover of animals with a special affection for horses. This was indeed exhibited via the striking cortege that formally conveyed him to his final resting place at St Mary’s cemetery in Warwick.

Sir John Swan spoke at the beginning of the service. The former premier spoke of Benny’s high ideals, citing him as one of the great people of Bermuda, whose life needed to be celebrated. The obituary, not printed in the colourful programme, was read by Kim White.

It should make interesting reading and will in all likelihood be published separately. Yours truly knew Benny personally.

We both worked as taxi drivers in our formative years. Simultaneously I was attending the Jean-Jaques Commercial School. We were in the fleet of cabs working from the old Belmont Hotel, engaged by the late Harry Sharpe, father of Sir John “Jack” Sharpe, the former premier. It was during that period Benny befriended one of his passengers, John F Kennedy. When the latter was elected president of the United States, he personally invited Benny to attend his inauguration.

I also remember Benny’s late father, Benjamin Sousa Senior He was a rather well-built man with a gregarious and larger-than-life personality who was also in the taxi fleet.