Scenes at a state funeral in Nassau last week were reminiscent of those accorded Dame Lois Browne Evans following her sudden death in June.

This time it was for 74-year-old Dr. Curtis Clifford McMillan. With his Bermudian-born wife at his side during what was termed the 'tumultuous 1960s and '70s in the Bahamas', he was credited with significantly helping change the course of history in his country.

That tumultuous period in the Bahamas was when the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP), under Sir Lynden Pindling, toppled the ruling white dominated 'Bay Street Boys' of the old United Bahamian Party 41 years ago.

The latter, almost in concert and carbon-copy form, controlled the majority black Bahamians like their Bermudian cousins, 'The Front Street Boys' or 'Forty Thieves' did what the United Bermuda Party had been doing in Bermuda since the earliest years of the 20th century and until the Progressive Labour Party, under Dame Jennifer Smith, finally succeeded in becoming the ruling party in 1998.

Over the decades there has been close rapport and reciprocal visits between the two PLP parties, particularly as their earliest parliamentary leaders were fellow law and economics students at universities in London.

Dr. McMillan's wife was the former Thelma Yvonne Stirling, a daughter of the late Herbert G. A. and Lucille E. A. Stirling, who resided on the North Shore Road boundary of Pembroke and Devonshire. They were founders of Metro Mineral Water & Trading Co. Ltd and Metro Beverages Ltd.

Mrs. McMillan attended the Central School (now named Victor Scott Elementary) and Mrs. Neverson's Excelsior School. She left to continue her education at the West Indies Training College (Northern Caribbean University), where she met her future husband.

They were married in Bermuda in 1958, and began their married life while attending Howard University Graduate School in Washington, DC. Following Dr. McMillan's Dental Internship in New York City they settled in the Bahamas in 1963.

Mrs. McMillan received her BA degree from Pacific Union College in California. She was an educator with the Bahamas Ministry of Education for more than 30 years before retiring. She is also one of the two founders of Dent-Plan Ltd. in 1990 and Med-Plan in 1995.

She used her special administrative, business and marketing skills to develop the company and to inform the Bahamian public of the importance of proper health-care, both dental and medical. She served as managing director for Dent-Plan Ltd. from 1990-2006.

She also served as an elected member of the executive committee of the Bahamas Union of Teachers. She campaigned with her husband for the Progressive Liberal Party that resulted in majority rule on January 10, 1967. She supported her husband during the formation of the Free PLP which later became the Free National Movement, the present Government.

Media in the Bahamas gave extensive coverage to the sudden death on January 13 in his 75th year of Dr. McMillan and his last rites on Monday, January 21. The Nassau Guardian headlined how hundreds paid final tribute to the 'Hero of Majority Rule'.

The Tribune hailed him as 'a visionary and dreamer who helped to shape the Bahamas'.

The entire three-hour ceremonial was carried nation-wide live on television; and among those viewing the TV coverage were Guilden Gilbert and wife Sylvia of St. David's.

Among the mourners at the funeral were Governor General Sir Arthur Hanna and Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Following are excerpts from the tribute by Sir Arthur Foulkes, a close friend and former political colleague of Dr. McMillan.

He said: "Dr. McMillan possessed a rare combination of gifts that made him an extraordinary human being. He was a man who was obviously destined to succeed wherever he chose to apply his considerable intellect and capacity for enterprise.

"He was a visionary and a dreamer. One of his dreams was realised with the recent opening of MedDentCo, a high technology health care facility that he had been working towards for many years.

"His dreams and visions went far beyond what he wanted to achieve in his profession, in modern health care for the Bahamian people and in the world of business. He shared with others of his generation a vision of a Better Bahamas; one n which political competition would be more than a means what was best for the people; a Bahamas in which the doors of social and economic advancement would be flung wide open to all; a Bahamas in which his fellow citizens would be defined by their devotion to this island nation, not by their race nor by their ethnic origins, nor by the circumstances of their birth."

Sir Arthur looked back on Dr. McMillan's decision to enter the political fray at a tumultuous time in the 1960s when it was risky for those without power or wealth to get involved.

"It was a time when a man could be destroyed for being so presumptuous. Indeed, some were, or came very close, and some were scarred for life.

"Dr. McMillan ignored the risks, put aside personal preferences, and heeded the call of his people and the demands of his conscience. It may not seem a big thing to those of a later generation, but it was a time when some who were far better placed could not bring themselves to be so bold. That is when Curtis and I became colleagues and colleagues for life.

"He committed his energy, his talents, his personal resources and future to the struggle. He exposed himself to the slings and arrows and even more frightful weapons of the Bahamian political arena.

"He was elected to the House of Assembly in 1967 and became a Minister in the first PLP Government being Minister of Communications with oversight of all communications and telecommunications, the airport and maritime affairs, among other things," said Sir Arthur.

Photos show Dr. Curtis McMillan with his Bermudian-born wife, the former Thelma Yvonne Stirling. The couple are also shown with their three children, Curtis O. McMillan, MD; Shelly McMillan, JD and Jo Allison McMillan-Steinwall, PhD. There are three grandchildren.