Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer

Trevor Heaven in a contemplative mood during our interview. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Fifty-five-year-old Lyden Trevor Heaven will today demit office as president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers' Association (JGRA), a post which has propelled him to national attention. Born in the district of Glenisle in Westmoreland - the child of a welder turned merchant, and a dressmaker - Heaven says he has travelled a long way, with more to accomplish, yet.

Born on November 6, 1950, Trevor was the only child between father Percival and mother Lola who married separately and provided him with a collection of 10 siblings. But, he belonged to neither family and always felt, he said, the challenge to prove himself.

Pivotal in his upbringing were grandparents Eugene and Marion Heaven. Marion, he recalls, was a small-bodied, full Indian woman with an obsession with education. No wonder Trevor became one of the youngest, trained engineers of local extract to be employed in the bauxite industry.

But, not to get ahead of ourselves, Marion ensured that Trevor had everything he needed while attending The Manning's School in Savanna-la-Mar, including extra classes.

His father, a welder as well as a farmer in the early days (he now runs a dry goods store on Great George's Street in Savanna-la-Mar) would come for him on weekends and spend hours with him, a period which is remembered with joy by Trevor.

Mother emigrated

His mother, Lola, had emigrated to the United Kingdom, but did not forget her son. In 1967, when Heaven was almost ready to sit his GCE O'Levels, she asked him to come to London and his father packed his bags and sent him to her.

In 1971 when Lola returned to Jamaica, Trevor was left with an aunt, Thelma Fenton, who ensured that he completed his education before returning to Jamaica.

The need for tertiary education, Trevor says, was reinforced by harsh experience.

After completing his A'Levels, while working with the Gas Council in England, testing water heaters, he noticed that other employees with less experience but higher national certification earned almost twice the income that he did.

"My boss pointed out to me that I needed qualifications for better pay," Trevor recalls.

He applied and was accepted at the University of Reading in Berkshire where he earned an honours degree in electrical engineering and mathematics. His salary would have been more at the council, but he was set on returning to Jamaica and did so in 1974.

In the island, he began his professional career at CITRAD Limited as a consulting engineer. CITRAD had just purchased a new plant and the young engineer was given the responsibility of setting this up and getting production going. The job carried a good salary, an assigned motor vehicle, all expenses paid and an apartment with a view of the hills. These were heady days for the young engineer.

Moved to Alcan

When business slowed, he moved on to Alcan, Kirkvine Works in 1977 as a project engineer until 1988, when he exited as a senior engineer. Trevor had arrived in Mandeville with his first wife and daughters Muna and Timberlee.

While he was at Alcan, he says, he never considered himself an 'employee'. His desire to run his own business grew daily, and when the first opportunity came along with the acquisition of a distribution depot for Island Dairies in Mandeville, he proved that he was meant for the entrepreneurial world.

At Island Dairies, he would work seven days a week, early mornings and far into the night to make his

business a success. He was once held up by gun men, but he persevered.

Then, in 1988, he acquired a Texaco dealership in Mandeville, beating several others to the deal and again proceeding to show that he knew as much about business as electrical engineering.

Heaven's Texaco earned several major awards including retailer of the year in 1991 for the Latin America/West Africa Division (LAWA) from Texaco Caribbean Inc. - a grouping of over 2,000 service stations. This was the first ever such award to be won by a Jamaican.

He also won the Multiple Top Merchant Sales Award and awards from Manufacturers Credit Information Services, as well as the National Commercial Bank Credit Card Centre and Goodyear Jamaica. Heavens's Texaco also gained a place in Texaco's Million Gallon Club.

Heaven recalls that the gas station was selling only 17,000 gallons monthly when he took it over and in two years he changed this to 140,000 gallons. The change, he said, was the result of customer service which he said clients have described as 'beyond expectations'.

For businessmen who wish to duplicate his success, Trevor Heaven reminds them that the cash they collect belongs not only to them, but also to their "suppliers, the Government and even their employees." They deserve their fair share.

"You are as good a manager as the people below make you. Take care of them," Trevor Heaven says. He pays staff based on merit. He also takes care of their extended families.

Currently in his second term as president of the Jamaica Gasolene Retailers Association, he says he departs with mixed feelings as there are several projects begun which he would have liked to finish. But he lists as one of his proudest moments the reinstatement of a dealer in Harbour View who had been threatened with closure.

Locked down esso's network

"With the help of the union we were able to lock down the Esso network. It caused a major economic disruption, but it also lead to the establishment of the board of enquiry which started a real discussion between the marketing companies and ourselves."

He is confident, he says, that the new JGRA administration will continue to work at changes needed. With more time to devote to his own enterprises in the future, Heaven says that there are several personal projects which he will now devote more energy to.

Professionally, he remains a chartered engineer with membership in the Jamaica Institute of Engineers, the Engineering Council of the United Kingdom and the Institution of Electrical Engineers United Kingdom.

He remains active in the community, serving as chairman of the Mandeville Regional Hospital Management Committee (2001-2004); Deputy Chairman of the Mandeville Regional Hospital Management Committee; member - Ministry of Health Parish Committee - Southern Regional Health Authority; and board member of several schools including Hatfield Primary and Junior High School , Villa Road Primary and Junior High School and Belair School. In his role as Rotary president, he says he has worked on several satisfying projects as well as travel around the world.

Currently married to Claudine, Heaven is father of six children - Muna, Timberley, Chad, Astrid, Nathan-Delano and Kai-Melissa. He enjoys the game of golf which he often plays with son Nathan.

"He tells me I am going to be beaten. I allow him to win."

Wife Claudine Heaven notes, "he (Trevor) is pretty indulgent with them, but once he opens his mouth, everything stops."

Fathers, Trevor Heaven says, need to model the kind of individual that they want their sons to become. Although he saw his own father only on weekends, he believes this man did a good job. For his children, he wants to do as much .