I had entertained the idea of heading up to Canada for KCOBA Toronto’s 32nd Annual Reunion and Awards Banquet which was held on November 5th. I really wanted to meet the crew up there, as well as their keynote speaker for the evening, Dr. Marcia Keizs. I became familiar with Dr. Keizs’ accomplishments through her niece, Essi Tasker, who is a longtime friend and was a coworker when I worked at Coca-Cola. Unfortunately, family, budgetary and time pressures militated against such an adventure.
All is not lost, however, as KCOBA Toronto president, Lance Seymour, has provided us with pictures that capture the essence of the evening. They are reprinted later in the newsletter for your perusal. The full text of Dr. Keizs’ speech is also reprinted later in this issue.
This month’s issue is jam packed with good stories. We feature three scholarship winners: Alain Bailey, Doug Macdonald and Christopher Gowie; and two award recipients, Dr. Carl Blackwood and veteran cricket coach, Roy McLean. We also answer the question, “Why was Errol Lindo Crying?” You’ll find the answer in Basil Waite’s article of the same name.
Atlanta subscribers will want to read the interview of Jamaican born Jewel Scott who made history when she simultaneously became the first female and the first African-American District Attorney of Clayton County in Metro Atlanta.
In the November issue of the Newsletter, we goofed: the caption for the pictures of Dr. Trevor Mair and Dr. Frederick McIntosh were reversed in the article on the Jamaican Diaspora Day in Canada. We regret the confusion.
The newsletter staff has enjoyed serving you during 2005 and we look forward to an even better year in 2006. Our best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season.
The chapel choir did not perform in the school choir competition this year for several reasons.
One, we have 19 new trebles this year. They all joined the choir in September, which gave no time to teach them music for a competition.
Two, the older boys who know the music have either moved on or their voices have moved on. In any event, the rule of the competition is that the participants must be currently registered, full time students. In the future this may mean the KC High School Choir, as against the KC Chapel Choir.
Three, the majority of the choirboys were not available during the summer months as they went away for the holidays and returned during the last week of August. If the competition is to be held in September next year, this could be a challenge.
Four, I was given the package with the competition details two weeks before the event!! Enough said on this one.
We do intend to be in the competition next year, but obviously we have to overcome a few issues.
For those old boys who may be having difficulty satisfying themselves that the choir is maintaining the established standard, I invite them to attend our concert at the UWI chapel December 18 at 5:00 pm. (the cost is a mere fraction of the annual dinner ticket) The handful of old boys who do attend our concerts can testify to the choir's standard.
Dr. Foote’s Article Stirs up Memories for Doug Carnegie
After reading Foote's (i.e. Dr. Norman Foote) “Purple Reminiscences”
article, I was motivated to write about my most memorable days at K.C. I could not believe Dr. Foote even remembered half that stuff. For the record, Glen Laman was also my classmate and friend, and he was best man at my wedding.
It was only a few weeks ago that I was reminiscing with a co-worker about the good old days at KC. I shared some of the articles in the newsletter with my co-worker from Uganda. The funny thing is that we recognized so many similarities between our cultures. First thing we talked about was soccer (football), I told her of the good times we had just playing and watching soccer. I told her how back in the 1960s KC dominated the schoolboy competition even going as far as requesting a team from Brazil one summer.
I told her of such greats as Tony Keyes, Marley (I can't remember his first name) and a few others like Patrick Hector (little bull). The one that stood out most in my mind though, is Marley, he could do some things with that football that were unbelievable. I remember one of the matches (may have been at the stadium) where Marley made one funny move with his body and five players on the opposing team were all going the wrong direction; it was hilarious. Those were some of my most memorable days at KC.
Next, I have to mention the dance parties we had for the 6th
formers. There was an association of all schools known as SFA (Sixth Form Association) that sponsored parties. Those parties were well attended and some were held at a location on the school grounds. Since Kingston College was an all-boys school, these parties gave us an opportunity to meet the gentler sex. It was a different time and things were calmer then. I can recall on one occasion 'Doug's' our beloved headmaster was chaperoning. He was quite surprised to see me out on the dance floor and said "I never knew you could do that." I told him, yes, all things should be done in moderation. I wish I could say more here, but then I might step on some toes. Again, some of my most memorable times were spent at the 6th form dances.
Lastly, I must mention my time in the Cadet Corps under the command of Major Isaac-Henry. I recall that my first encounter with “Zac” (as we cadets called him) was when I first arrived at KC. He approached me one day and said to me, “I want you to be my Sergeant-Major." I had no idea what he was talking about. It soon became clear to me, because he would not let up until I joined the cadets corps and even then he did not let up, but kept pushing me to become first, a lance-corporal, then a corporal. He sent me to every available training so I could be promoted.
In 1967 I was selected to be part of a cadet group that went to Canada. Isaac-Henry also went along on that trip. Once we got back home, he promoted me to Sergeant-Major. He had not let up until it had become a reality. Camping trips were lots of fun too but we also learnt a lot about responsibility and caring for each other. Absolutely, those cadet corps days were my most memorable days at Kingston College.
I could go on and on… My e-mail is dcarnegie@dwholdings.com mailto:dcarnegie@dwholdings.com .
The Atlanta chapter recently received a much needed boost of enthusiasm and commitment when several wives of association members mobilized and formed a support group known as “The Ladies.”
Their first project is the upcoming Atlanta Holiday party. So far, “The Ladies” have enhanced the planning for the Annual Christmas Party. They have offered several ideas for improvement and taken on the responsibility for decorating the tables, working out the menu, serving food, securing raffle prizes and selling tickets.
The idea for “The Ladies” developed out of conversations between Arlene Barrett , wife of Chapter president Everton Barrett and her neighbor two doors down, Alicia Adams , wife of Earl Adams , chapter
treasurer and KBOBA Newsletter Technical Editor.
In addition to Arlene and Alicia , the group now includes:
Vee Callender
Jackie Edwards
Toni Laman
Norma Martin
Dr. Michele Pitter
Angela Richards
Calys Stewart
Joelle Williams
Needless to say, the “old boys” are thrilled at this new development. Director Garfield Parker said their involvement will help our group become “really first class.” Secretary Anthony Williams declared that they would “provide the missing link” while director Winston Stewart said he was certain that the “input and assistance of the ladies is a recipe for success.” And Vice President Glen Laman added that “the Ladies' energy and enthusiasm will spur us to greater endeavors.”
The Kingston College Chapel Choir will hold its annual concert at the University Chapel at the University of the West Indies (UWI) at 5.00 pm on December 18, 2005.
The Atlanta chapter has agreed to purchase 10 tickets for distribution to a charity or group selected by the choirmaster.
Jerry was reluctant to leave because he was having a whale of a time on the island. Jerry Lindo is a member of KCOBA (Toronto) who visited Jamaica recently. It is policy that all members are ambassadors of the chapter and encouraged to visit Kingston College while visiting Jamaica.
Jerry attended KCOBA executive meetings, was at the school almost every day at track and field practice and Manning Cup training and was very active in the planning of the George Thompson benefit and the Roper Cup tournament. He attended every Manning Cup game and rubbed shoulders with outstanding old boys such as Rupert Hoilett, Merrick Miller, Freddy Green, Pat McIntosh, Micky Murdoch, Lawson Douglas, Howie Bell, Churchill Neita, Bowla Morant, Molo Walker, Cyril Buchanan, Neville Oxford, Trevor TC Campbell, Bally Reid and sidekicked with Jack Manhertz.
Each evening he arrived aboard Jacks "doozleburgh" and alighted carrying a towel and dressed in sweat gear but he never jogged. He limed regularly and closed the pub at Allman Town; was involved in the revival of the Sports Council and the meetings that witnessed the changing of the Manning Cup guard from Stratton Palmer to Jumpy Harris. He enquired about the cadet corps, had audience with the leading administrators at the school and expressed an interest in the plans to dig a well at KC.
When interviewed about St. George’s admission of girls to their sixth form, Jerry was vociferous in his position against such an adoption by KC. "The bishop would turn in his grave," said Jerry who then went on to give us several anecdotes about his period under Bishop Gibson. He was in every debate on the Clovelly Campus and would buy every one ice cream and 'nose naught' plums when the vendors dropped by during the heated debates under the lignum vitae tree by Hardie House.
The first time Jerry was to leave, we couldn’t find him. After several searches, we found him hiding under a bed and he offered the excuse that his Jamaican passport had expired and his departure therefore had to be delayed until ‘some papers' arrived from Canada.
Jerry cried when Jack and his wife finally took him to the airport. We cried too because we missed a dear friend. There was never a dull moment whilst he was here. He was the life of the party. We say "Walk good” Jerry.
Lets see how far back our readers memorires go. Now who can give the names of all or the most of this group of first formers. The reader listing the most names will be published in next month's newsletter. Send your answers listing from left to right to
KC Old boy and Civil Engineer,
Anthony 'Sticky' Allen, was returned unopposed as President of the Kingston College PTA at the recent
Annual General Meeting of the Association at the school's St. Augustine Chapel.
In what is whispered to be a 'genetically linked' administration, the third term President has been joined by three other VPs who are also KC Old Boys. The slate comprised:
President Anthony Alverton Allen
1st Vice President Hector Daley
2nd Vice President Garth Daniels
2nd Vice President Timou Waugh
Secretary Carmen Williams
Asst. Secretary Lynda Garvey
PRO Michael Anthony Hutchinson
Assistant PRO Sonia Linton.
The positions of Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer will be selected by Executive at their first meeting as per Constitution. Following a tied vote the AGM decided to have two 2nd vice presidents.
Elected to office in July 2004, Jamaican born Attorney Jewel C. Scott made history when she simultaneously became the first female and the first African-American District Attorney of Clayton County. The following interview is reprinted from the Jamaica Daily Gleaner.
It was a
very overcast but otherwise mild day when freelance writer and
President of Jamaican/American Partners in Education, Napti Walters, sat down with District Attorney elect for Clayton County, Georgia, the Honorable Jewel Scott.
She is a petite lady who exudes confidence and great charm.
NW: I know you are Jamaican, but exactly where in Jamaica?
JS: I am from Mandeville originally, but spent my formative years in Hanover.
NW: How was it growing up there?
JS: It was interesting and we had a good childhood.
Our parents sheltered us from the day to day realities as best they could.
NW: Was law your first career choice?
JS: No it was not. During that era girls were steered toward more traditional professions. For example, teaching, nursing, seamstress and so on. My father the Rev. Seymour Hanson, was active in the community and this gave me the desire to become a public servant.
NW: You created history by becoming the first woman and Caribbean/American to hold the office of D.A in this County. How important is that?
JS: Very important in terms of the change we have brought and continue to bring. It's an honor.
NW: What change have you brought so far? First offenders can have their records expunged after completion of an intervention program.
Additionally, we have a summer internship program for High school and College students pursing law. Gang activity has gone down due the village initiative.
NW: How do you balance work and family?
JS: It's tricky at best, but my family understands the nature of my work.
NW: Are your children American?
JS: Yes
NW: How do they feel about your native country?
JS: They love Jamaica; in fact my oldest, Lee Jay, wears a lot of Jamaican paraphernalia. I think he has or is embracing Rastafarianism.
NW: Where did you receive your early and advanced education?
JS: Bethel Primary in Hopewell, Hanover and then Montego Bay and Manchester High. My post secondary work was at Norman Manley Law school at the University of the West Indies.
NW: How has your life changed since taking office?
JS: As you can imagine, it's quite busy. I am constantly giving speeches. (laughter) My staff of seventy keeps me on point.
NW: What motivated you to run for office?
JS: A desire for change in the criminal justice system. To strike a balance between punishing people and giving them an opportunity to turn their lives around.
NW: Are your children following in your footsteps?
JS: No they are not. My sense is they are leaning more in the direction of their father. He is a buisness man.
NW: What did your mother do?
JS: She was a housewife.
NW: Do you have any siblings?
JS: Yes. I have three sisters and two brothers.
They are Veronica Crawford, Flora Garth and Rosamund Walcott.
My brothers are Dr. David Henson and Christian Henson.
NW: How do you relax?
JS: Reading is my passion. Quality time with the family is always a great relaxer.
NW: What is your favorite dish?
JS: Jerk chicken
NW: Thank you Madam D.A
The Toronto Chapter of KCOBA held its Annual Reunion & Awards Banquet on Saturday, November 5th, 2005 at the Delta Toronto Airport West. The Guest of Honor was Dr. Marcia V. Keizs, President of York College, City University of New York. Her keynote speech is printed in its entirety elsewhere in this issue.
Winston Stewart was honored for his many years of service to the KC family, primarily based on his exemplary leadership role during his tenure as President of the New York Chapter. Errol Hasfal was honored for his many years of dedicated support to the Toronto Chapter.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Arkansas track and field program took advantage of the early signing period and received an outstanding commitment for its recruiting class when Alain Bailey of Kingston, Jamaica signed on to become a Razorback.
“It's a huge signing for us,” Arkansas head coach John McDonnell said. “He can do it all. He can long and triple jump and be on the 4x100-meter relay, because he has that kind of speed. With him as an addition to our young jumpers I think we'll be back to where we used to be in the jumps.”
Bailey is a versatile long, triple and high jumper at Kingston College . He was voted the country's most outstanding high school athlete after he won all three events at the Jamaican National High School Championships.
His best marks include a wind-aided 25-10.25 in the long jump and 50-9.25 in the triple jump. In the high jump he has cleared 6-10.75.
“ Alain Bailey is a positive addition to our program in every way,” Arkansas field events coach Dick Booth said. “He has the best long jump of any signee we've ever had and I'm excited because he's also academically motivated.”
Veteran coach Roy McLean (right) accepts his award from club president Errol Ziadie at Kingston Cricket Club's Annual dinner and award ceremony at Sabina Park held recently. (Photo: Joseph Wellington )
Retired coach and Kingston College old boy, Roy McLean was presented with a special award in recognition of his 12 years of service to the 142 year-old club.
McLean , 73, has been a cricket coach all his life, by his account, and was part of the early development of West Indies ' great Lawrence Rowe, among many others.
Handed with the responsibility of developing the game at the club, McLean told the Sunday Observer that the award was very significant.
"It's different from the others in that when you know about the history of the club and when you get something like that from a club like Kingston, which has high international recognition... you realize that this is something that is much different from all the others," beamed McLean.
Kurt MacDonald is the son of KCOBA (Toronto) Board Member, Douglas MacDonald. He is the 2005 recipient of a Markham African Caribbean Association (MACA) Academic Award. In the summer, he was the worthy recipient of the prestigious Canadian Millennium Foundation Scholarship.
He is also the grandson of former KC Geography and Mathematics teacher, Edward MacDonald, affectionately called, “Mr. Mac,” whose services to KC spanned over four decades.
Kurt graduated from Milliken Mills High School and is enrolled at the University of Western Ontario where he is pursuing studies in Biological and Medical Sciences. He plans to attend medical school and specialize in cardiovascular research on his way to becoming a cardiologist.
Twenty one year old third year University of Technology (UTECH) mechanical engineering student, Christopher Gowie, is the 2005 recipient of the Bruce Rickards Scholarship.
The annual scholarship, now in is its fourth year, is awarded by the Grace Kennedy Foundation to a KC student in memory of the first chairman of the Kingston College Development Trust fund and KC old boy, Bruce Rickards. Bruce was an outstanding manager at Grace Kennedy and also a director of the Grace Kennedy Foundation . The scholarship was first announced by Chairman of the Foundation, Douglas Orane , at Rickards' funeral at St. Andrew Parish Church in 2002.
Christopher Gowie entered KC from Alpha Primary in 1995. He graduated in 2000 and was a contemporary of Greg Walcolm the scholarship's first recipient. His hobbies include fishing, farming and football. A Seventh Day Adventist, Gowie plays trumpet and tenor side drum in the marching band of the North Street church and East Jamaica Conference of Seventh Day Adventist.
Mrs. Patricia Robinson , CEO of the Grace Kennedy Foundation , indicated that the Bruce Rickards Scholarship alternates between UWI and UTECH and mainly covers tuition but is flexible to extend to cover travel, boarding and other costs depending on the circumstances of the student. The Jamaica College equivalent is called the Carlton Alexander Memorial Scholarship which is awarded to the alma mater of another outstanding Grace Kennedy stalwart. Mrs. Robinson also provided the author with a copy of the Grace Kennedy Foundation annual report 2003-2004 which provided information on the three other Bruce Rickards scholars as follows:
2002-Greg Walcolm: He was awarded the scholarship fresh out of KC sixth form and attended UWI Mona and Cave Hill campuses where he obtained LLB upper second class degree in 2005. He is presently at the Mona campus pursuing the final two years of the certificate component of the 5 year law programme.
2003-Dwayne Morrell: When he was awarded the scholarship, he was a third year Business Administration student at the University of Technology majoring in production and operations management. He graduated with a BBA degree in 2004/5
2004-Dwayne Burrowes: The Headboy of KC 2003-2004, is currently in his final year at UWI's St. Augustine campus where he is pursuing a BSc. degree in mechanical engineering.
Brittnee Habbib: Leaps, Prances And Beams Her Way To The Top
Brittnee Habbib is the daughter of KC Old boy and former Board Member of the Toronto Chapter, Wayne Habbib. She is a top flight gymnast and a member of the Canadian national team.
The following article is reprinted from Pride Newspaper, a Canadian weekly.
By Ingrid Walter
Pride Contributing Writer
As a baby, Brittnee Habbib seemed to have megatons of energy. She was always trying to climb out of her crib. Her parents were constantly running back and forth, terrified she would eventually swing off her crib bars and come crashing to the floor.
Wayne and Lavern Habbib, immigrants from Jamaica, decided they had to do something about their extraordinarily agile child. Then the idea came to them, "Why not enroll her in gymnastics?" So, at a mere eighteen months, the little Habbib was introduced to her first gymnastics teacher.
Some 15 years later, this young Black woman is one of this country's top gymnasts, representing Canada at international competitions in the United Sates, Russia, Luxemburg, and most recently, at the trials for the Pan American Games to be held in Brazil in 2007. As a high performance senior level gymnast, Brittnee is under enormous pressure to perform, under the penetrating eyes of some of the world's most discriminating judges.
At the recent Pan Am trials, with a true competitive spirit, she competed despite spraining one of her fingers. Even though she had to reduce her training hours and go through therapy for a painfully swollen hand, Brittnee helped Canada's women's team finish third out of fifteen countries battling to qualify. Only the top seven teams will make it to the games in 2007. "I did very well, even though I tripped and fell in a freak accident," says Habbib, who is determined to make it to the games in Rio de Janeiro. At 16 years old she knows, to sit at the table with the world's best, it takes focus, steely determination, lots of discipline and a willingness to compete, no matter what.
Six days out of the week this grade 12 student - who attends Mary Ward's Catholic School in Scarborough - treks to Oshawa for five to six hours of training, at the Gemini Gymnastics Club, where she is the only senior high performance-carded athlete on the National Canadian Gymnastics Team.
Clearly proud of her achievements, she admits her success is, in part, a result of the unwavering support she receives from her family. "The family is very close, and whatever each person does is supported throughout," says Wayne Habbib, who, along with his wife and son Dyane, all take turns to make sure his daughter gets to her training sessions on time.
The Senior Habbib says, although soccer is really his passion, when his daughter told him she wanted to compete and possibly make it to the Olympics, he started to do his homework.
"Many of these clubs…do this (gymnastics) more on a recreational level, she was going past the recreational level," says Habbib. So they found a club where the gymnast would get the kind of training that would give her the opportunity to excel and, possibly, one day, fulfill her dream of making it to the Olympics. Her Russian coaches, Elena Davydova and Valery Yahchybekov, are some of the best in the field. Davydova is the celebrated 1980 Olympic All-Round Gold Medal Champion, who edged out favourite Nadia Comaneci during the games. Yahchybekov, who was Head Coach of the Lvov National Training Centre in the Ukraine, is the young Habbib's second coach and currently coaches only provincial and national stream gymnasts.
Like all high-level performance gymnasts, Habbib competes on the beams, the vault, and the bars and on the floor. It is quite amazing to watch her run, jump, flip and spin multiple times in the air - with a great deal of poise, agility and strength - landing secure on her feet.
In 2003, this young athlete made the transition from a high performance junior to the senior levels. That year, she picked up multiple medals at the Canadian Championships as a junior gymnast, including the bronze medal in the individual all-around, and medals in three of the four event finals.
In 2004, Habbib was chosen to compete for Canada in Europe at tournaments in Russia and Luxembourg.
She took home the silver medal on the floor exercise at the Ditiatin Cup and finished 10th overall at the Canadian Championships.
Her performance at the 2004 Canadian Championships, in both floors and vault finals, led Gymnastics Canada to award her an "Outstanding International Achievement Award". That year, she also became a member of the Canadian senior high performance team.
With all the traveling and the seemingly endless hours of hard training, Habbib still manages to get her school work done and plans to graduate next year. She is bi-lingual and, like any teenager, has hobbies. Hers include playing the piano, shopping, reading scary books and watching scary movies. But her great passion is gymnastics, and her big dream is to make it to the Olympics in 2008.
"As a carded athlete, I have my own personal goals to achieve at each and every competition, but as a Canadian, I promise to represent our country with pride and honour," says Habbib, as if readying herself for an Olympic victory speech. But before she makes it to the Olympics, there are many more beams to mount, vaults to jump, and floor routines to master, as well as a slew of high-pressure competitions, where she will need to excel.
Decisions are made quickly and "there's a possibility that, in two weeks, I could be going to Slovenia for the Siska International competition," she says. Well she made it to Slovenia. Then there could be another local competition there could be another local competition, and, by the end of the year, she could be off, once again, to the Elite Canada event, a women's and men's artistic gymnastic competition scheduled for December.
The young athlete Habbib is no longer jumping out of cribs, but, instead, is somersaulting, pirouetting and vaulting her way to victories that, to most of us, seem like impossible feats.
The citation for Dr. Blackwood’s award is reprinted below:
KINGSTON COLLEGE OLD BOYS ASSOCIATION ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY
Citation
For
Dr. Carl Ireton Ricardo Blackwood
B.Sc. (Hons), Dip Eng., Ph.D.
Presented
By
Dr. Winston George Mendes-Davidson
CD; JP; MB.BS; DTM&H
Life Member & Past President
Kingston College Old Boys Association
On the 11th September 1946 at 7:30 am in the district of Aberdeen in the Parish of St. Elizabeth a boy was born as the second child of Cleveland Ricardo Blackwood, headmaster, and Violet Isadore Blackwood, nee Facey, teacher. That day was indeed fateful as the entry of the child into the world christened Carl Ireton Ricardo Blackwood was destined to make a mark not only on Kingston College, but on Jamaica, the Caribbean, and indeed the world.
For he was nurtured in a home environment where education, the pursuit of knowledge, Moravian Christian teachings and the ferment of contemporary progressive thought, a la Sir Stafford Cripps, that giant of British Socialist thinking defined the basic ingredients of his deeply embedded system of values. Yes, gentlemen his father was a student of Sir Stafford Cripps and it was therefore not surprising that his home was visited by The late National Hero Norman Washington Manley whom the young Carl met at the tender age of ten years. This encounter, which Carl remembers vividly, was the substrate and precursor to the evolution of his ideology, his passion for intellectual honesty and rigour and an obsession for fair play, justice and equality.
Passing a scholarship to that great institution Kingston College at the age of eleven Carl met his contemporaries, his peers who represented the best of the breed in scholarship, intellect and scholastic prowess, drawn from every social strata from every nook and cranny of the island and even from abroad. A potpourri so enthralling that many of us judged it to be the best and happiest years of our lives.
Carl was a brilliant student, highly competitive, and a well-behaved, polite and decent person. As I recall, both of us competed fiercely taking first and second places alternately while in third form. These healthy rivalries led to a brotherly friendship, love and respect that lasted unabated for over forty-five years. To engage Carl was always intellectually stimulating. He dissected every thought with surgical precision and defended his ideas with fortitude and passion. When cornered, and this was not very often, he backed off gracefully, only to return with some new problematic, or some new idea which he wanted to be subjected to more intellectual rigour. I sometimes thought that he took life too seriously and would deliberately annoy him by responding to him with indifference and nonchalance. Only then was I able to cool his passion and intensity.
It was not surprising that Carl was chosen from among all his peers as head boy of the school in 1964-65. For he was a natural leader who led by example, was very articulate, fair, disciplined, accessible and trustworthy. His word was always his bond. During his stewardship as head boy, the written history of Kingston Colleges will confirm that the school performed academically and in every other area including culture, sport or scholastic endeavour way above the performance of any other high school in the country. KC was at its zenith.
Reluctantly we all left KC in 1965 and Carl left for St Augustine in Trinidad to study engineering on an engineering scholarship after having seen to it that my application to medical school was made, since I had migrated to the USA where my family resided. His insistence on my application to UWI Medical School was responsible for my returning to Jamaica to do Medicine on a Medical scholarship.
Carl’s sojourn in Trinidad unearthed the manifestations of his deeply embedded values related to his ideological principles centred on issues of Justice rather than the studying of engineering. He was passionate about the divisions between the Blacks and Indian population. By 1966 he met a young Indian girl Dharwati who would, in time, become his lifelong partner.
Ignoring his studies he plunged headlong into social issues and became President of the guild of undergraduates. He thought that every student who represented less than 0.5 % of the population must contribute to the society, which paid for their education at great sacrifice. His experience in Trinidad drove him to become an agent of change because of the bigotry and social polarisation along ethnic lines.
He started a Student Reform Movement for justice and reformation within the society and led this into the wider Trinidadian Community. This outreach program mushroomed, fuelled by his oratory, which was described by many who heard him as spell binding and mesmerising. He led mass rallies involving the largest Unions in Trinidad including the Cane Workers and Oilfield workers unions with crowds estimated at over 100,000 people (then 10% of the population) and has recorded the biggest mass movement in Trinidad’s history.
This mass movement which led inevitably to some social unrest was being surreptitiously exploited by opportunists without his knowledge: three young Sandhurst trained army officers were plotting to overthrow the Government in order to bring back stability. Carl and other leaders of the movement were slated for arrest and execution by the coup plotters. Nevertheless, he neither wavered in his commitment, nor was he daunted at the prospect of being killed.
The Eric Williams Government of the day pre-emptively declared a State of emergency; the Coast Guard foiled the attempted coup in its incipient stages; and leaders of the legitimate movement were either arrested in their beds, or scattered to the four winds. Carl took to the hills with a trusted friend, and was the most sought fugitive by tens of army, police, scouts of unknown national origin, vehicles and helicopters in the mountains of Trinidad’s Northern Range from April 20th to the 22nd July 1970. He survived in the bush evading the army and scouts for three months. The methods and means of his survival are another fascinating story.
He was captured in a hillside garden hut, beaten, and arrested and charged with sedition (punishable by death in a state of emergency), disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly, the latter charge deriving from his march to the Central Bank and the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which presumably were passive symbols of the status quo. He was never brought to trial but put in political detention in the Royal Jail for four months.
He was released after four months, and sought to return home briefly to see his ailing father. He received a one-time travel document from the Jamaican High Commission, since neither his passport nor any of his papers could be accounted for by the authorities who had searched his apartment. He left Trinidad for Jamaica, and was declared “persona non grata” as soon as the aircraft on which he was travelling left Trinidad airspace. The trip to Jamaica took three days, as every Caribbean territory declared him persona non-grata when he landed, including Barbados, Antigua Puerto Rico and Haiti.
He arrived in Jamaica under strict security surveillance and lived under security watch when he resided with his parents in Harbour View. He was in good spirits when Ruddy Wallace, a classmate, and I visited with him. He never relented but continued his education and service by being articled to a law firm to do law, while at the same time training young men to be electrical and refrigeration technicians and starting a trade union with the graduates of the class.
He applied for and received a new passport with the change of government in 1972, and subsequently applied to every embassy for a travel visa, but was refused by all except the French Embassy. Carl was told he could travel freely to Paris, and there seek permission for a more permanent status from the relevant authorities. He used this opportunity to travel to Paris to meet with those who were preparing the groundwork for the Fifth Black Writers’ Conference in Tanzania. (He had earlier met these planners and writers at the Black Writers’ Planning Conference in Kingston.) In Paris he was warmly welcomed, and met a wide range of African freedom fighters, and other leaders, who were engaged in struggles for Justice in their respective countries.
While in Paris he was reunited with his friend Dharwati who was studying on a French Government scholarship in Besancon (in the provinces). After some troubling experiences, his plans for Tanzania were put on hold, and he decided instead to stay in France to pursue his engineering studies there. Having resided in France for more than a year and a half, he discovered, quite by chance, that as a French resident he was eligible to study in England. After many deliberations with the British Consulate in Paris, he was allowed to continue his engineering studies in Britain, although their clear preference was for him to study in an area that did not have a large West Indian population. He eventually settled on the University of Hull in East Yorkshire, which had an excellent reputation for its work in Electronic Engineering and Applied Physics. Carl registered at the University of Hull for a special honours degree in Electronic Engineering.
His brilliance was rewarded by coming first in the controls group, (his chosen specialty) in the B.Sc. Engineering Special Honours degree. At the same time he also did his Diploma in Engineering (Dip Eng.) which thesis was deemed to be of such high quality that he was allowed to bypass the Masters Degree course and proceed directly to the Ph.D. degree. He was given a full scholarship to read for his Ph.D. (Eng.) His dissertation entitled: “Robust Identifiers For A Class Of Adaptive Systems” was undoubtedly cutting edge in its day. During his research, the Science Research Council (SRC) sponsored him at their intense Summer Graduate Schools at Cambridge University and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). All his travels to conferences at home and abroad were fully paid for by the British. His dissertation was considered to be brilliant, and he graduated to a standing ovation with prolonged applause as he received the letters for his Ph.D. degree from the late Lord William Wilberforce—the grandson of the leader of the Slave abolitionist movement, Sir William Wilberforce.
Immediately he was sought after by job offers from five countries including the USA Britain and Sweden. He applied to Jamaica but there was no job available. He received offers from two universities in the USA and had to be cleared by the British Security. In addition, the university whose offer he had accepted was obliged to approach its then Congressman (and subsequent Governor of Pennsylvania) to petition congress on his behalf. He was warmly welcomed in the US as he arrived to take up his professor’s job at a prestigious engineering university Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In one year his performance surpassed all expectations in research, teaching and consulting. He was adequately rewarded for his efforts, and was well compensated. His research was of strategic value then, and his inventions addressed some fundamental shortfalls in the defence of his adopted country.
He had married Dharwati in 1975 while they were in Britain and they had a son, Kimathi, who at three years of age in 1981/82 had difficulty adapting to the new Lehigh environment because of constant allergic hypersensitivity reactions. Regrettably Carl could not be persuaded to stay as a professor in that environment and moved house and career. He at first joined a company that was a consultant to the Pentagon, and solved problems for identifying very faint underwater signals and passive tracking on land. Eventually, Carl started his own company, but was then persuaded by an offer he could not reasonably refuse to lead a large research effort at a major aerospace company (Ford Aerospace) in California’s Silicon Valley. That was in 1988, and he still lives in the Silicon Valley to this day.
He invented many cutting edge technologies and systems for de-icing planes, wind sheer detection devices to prevent air disasters, and systems for detecting land mines. He developed some of the early algorithms for GPS navigation and attitude determination, and worked on re-entry systems. He developed the first Ka-band RF auto track systems for geostationary satellites, and was once given the freedom to be his one-man think-tank for one year with all the support and resources he required.
Presently he is developing the means for greater spacecraft autonomy, far surpassing some of the most sophisticated spacecrafts currently in orbit. One of his last large programs (built for the Japanese) is currently in the ninth year of its expected sixteen-year life. The expectation is that this mark will eventually be far exceeded. Carl is also working on novel Adaptive Neural Network control schemes for large space platforms; he is doing all of this while he struggles with a very painful spinal cord injury that was sustained at the time of his capture in Trinidad (July 22, 1970) when he was severely beaten by his captors. Little did he know then the extent of his injuries; but with the passing of time, age has rendered them plain for all to see, and he has forgiven those who acted with such passionate hatred. We shall in the fullness of time build a viable and just community in which the least among us will be no less cared for than the mightiest and best.
Throughout his travail, Carl has led a full life of dedication to his wife to whom he writes poetry every day. His son, Kimathi, performed brilliantly both in university and medical school, and is now a medical doctor in the USA completing his residency, research and fellowships in infectious disease and nephrology.
Carl’s life is a life of incomparable achievements and excellence in all his endeavours. He has displayed exceptional fortitude and an insatiable appetite for struggle especially when it is in the interest of the marginalised or those whose rights have been trampled on through bigotry or discrimination. His life’s work and persona without question are more than enough qualification to render him a fitting and worthy choice to receive this highest honour of his peers and erstwhile schoolmates represented by the Kinston College Old Boys’ Association.
Gentlemen let us all be upstanding in recognising one among us whose sheer brilliance and exceptional character has made us proud, and who is indeed a fitting candidate to be honoured. He represents that rare breed that is only found in the corridors of Kingston College, reflected in the words of our motto: “Fortis Cadere Cedere Non Potest.” “The brave may fall but never yield!”
Dr. Marcia V. Keizs Gives the Keynote Speech at Toronto Banquet
The following is the text of the keynote address given by Dr. Marcia V. Keizs, President of York College, City University of New York, at the 32 nd Annual Banquet of the Toronto Chapter of the Kingston College Old Boys' Association .
OPENERS:
Thank you for inviting me to be your keynote speaker at your 32 nd Annual Reunion and Awards Banquet here in
Toronto . The many Chapters of
the Alumni Associations are all over the world fulfilling the mission of the association to improve the educational standards of our youth in our local communities as well as Jamaica through your outstanding Alma Mater.
Toronto is a city I know well not only because I spent nine interesting months here, but because I have visited it over the last thirty or so years and seen it evolve into a vibrant, multi-ethnic, international city with magnet attractions like, Ontario Place, Harbourfront, Distillery Historic District, Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Metro Zoo, the Ontario Science Centre and the more than 40 theaters and cultural festivals which represent the diversity of the people who call Toronto home. Your numerous restaurants are eclectic and palate teasing, representing cuisines and cooking styles from many countries. Some of my best dining has occurred in Toronto 's diverse restaurants, in places like Little Italy, Chinatown , and the Danforth.
I have discovered outposts like Stouville, Mississauga , Oakville and Thronton Hill courtesy of some of you in the room and other friends and family, some of whom are here tonight. (Fay Elliot, my college room mate and life time friend who I met on my plane ride from Toronto to Winnipeg in 1964 and her friends who have become my friends here in Toronto; my brother, Dale Keizs and his wife Joan; my nieces and nephews and their respective spouses especially Judanna and her husband Junior, etc.); my cousin Bunny / Roseneath Jackson, to name a few. I have spent pleasant times jogging with Leslie and her husband, Dave in the old days in the upscale Rosedale area. And of course there is my old friend Locksley who I met when we were both at Manitoba , me an English major and he majoring in Architecture! And Locksley, thank you for that kind and warm introduction. So, it is an absolute delight to be here with you.
I feel a special appreciation for being here today because your organization was the first to capitalize on my being named as President of York College/CUNY. St. Andrews and Mico College were a fast second and third! No sooner was the deal done, than your astute and shrewd secretary popped the question to me, “Are you free on November 5 th ?” At the time I was not even looking that far ahead but, since the person asking was my younger brother Dale , I could not disappoint.
I offer congratulations to worthy awardees, Winston L. Stewart and Errol Hasgal .
I would like to offer special congratulations to the leadership of the KC Old Boys on your accomplishments in Jamaica: donation of computers and computer systems to the school, sponsorship of several awards for students in the areas of math and citizenship, contributions to the Trust Fund, donation of books to the library and support of the Cadet Corp at KC.
And it is not always just hard work sometimes it is fun:
Fortis Fridays
Annual Spring Dance
Annual Dinner Dance
Penn Relays
Alumni Soccer Fest and family day to name a few.
A LOOK BACKWARD
As I broach my topic tonight, Transformational Leadership for the 21 st Century, I want to take a look backward before going forward.
Like many of you, I wonder how I arrived at this place and this time. Like you I wonder where the years went. And like you I often reminisce about the days when I was a barefoot girl in Jamaica , with two little plaits hanging almost to my shoulder and dreaming about being a high school teacher, just like the high school English teachers I knew so well. I had the distinction of attending, not one but two high schools in Jamaica , Yes, I was an Ardennite, and then when I completed fifth form I went to St. Andrews . But the road to my success really commenced much earlier at places like Central Branch High School, where a stern, fair and firm Mrs Rhodd, assured that you were not only academically challenged, but that you were well disciplined as well. When my journey took me to Winnipeg , Manitoba , I reveled in the distance from home, though not the freezing long winters, but I endured, with balanced doses of hitting the books by day and liming at night.
And then the turmoil and excitement of big city life beckoned, and I abandoned the Canadian prairie for the Big Apple, which has been home for over 35 years. Like many of my generation, who found ourselves in places like New York, Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, and Los Angeles, in the early seventies, we were the beneficiaries of the Civil Rights movement and the vast opening up of opportunities to blacks which swept in the social, educational, economic, and political changes which today some of the present generation, the hip-hoppers, (I will return to them latter) take so much for granted. The impact of the land mark case of Brown vs. Board of Education which resulted in the breaking down of the walls of segregation and the opening up of opportunities to blacks who had migrated to the large urban centers from southern and rural America as well as from the Caribbean and Africa, continues to be assessed and revisited. Suffice it to say that many of us who came to places like New York had doors open for us which heretofore were closed when people like Martin Luther King and organizations like the NAACP took up causes like the one symbolized by Rosa Parks when she sat on the bus and refused to move …. And in so doing opened a door that you and I could walk through boldly.
And so it was that in 1971, a young woman who had left Jamaica in 1964 with the sole intention of becoming an English teacher in a high school, in Jamaica or in the high schools of New York City, when I found myself in that place ----- armed with a Masters degree from Columbia University ----- started her career at Queensborough Community College as an Assistant Professor of English.
And so the story goes, from Kingston , Jamaica , to Jamaica , Queens…this is the York College chapter of my story.
YORK 'S HISTORY
York College was founded in 1966 by the Board of Higher Education of The City University of New York, as its fifth senior college and opened its doors in the fall of 1967. While awaiting its move to Jamaica , Queens, York held temporary quarters on the campus of Queensborough Community College in Bayside. A part of its history and its location in Jamaica , Queens is the result of a strong coalition and extraordinary political pressure on behalf of the African-American communities in Queens that believed higher education and especially public higher education ( CUNY) in the county of Queens was not fulfilling its promise to “the darker brother”. The successful efforts of this grass roots movement resulted in locating York College in Jamaica , and that part of the College's history remains a critical component of the York spirit and story today. Jamaica residents are fiercely loyal to the college and feel a sense of ownership, which can be quite daunting to a new leader.
When the College opened its Academic Core Building in 1986 in Jamaica , we had a student enrollment of 4,276, the number of faculty was 173 and the College offered 43 Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree programs. Our student body is 55% Black, 15% Hispanic, 15% Asian, 5% White and 10% who are unidentified. Today, we are a 40 year old comprehensive baccalaureate granting institution, with flagship programs in the areas of allied health sciences, social work, business and pre law and pre medical preparation. I invite you to surf the web and take a look at us at: www.york.cuny.edu.
York On The Move/Transforming York
I am the fourth permanent president of York in fourteen years and there have been four acting presidents during the same time as well. Interestingly enough, ten years ago in 1996, I served a brief nine-month stint as York College 's Acting President. So this is a bit of a home coming and fortunate for me, since I have spent my whole career in the CUNY system in five different institutions in about seven very different job titles--- most at the executive level---- and since I have also served at the Central Office headquarters, on February 14, 2005, Valentine's Day, I was able to hit the ground running.
As President of York, I have moved quickly to adopt a new logo to brand us and to capture the best elements of our past while signaling what will be York College 's best years in terms of capacity, academic quality, and reputation.
We are on the Move: This fall we hired 15 new faculty in critical areas including business, nursing, mathematics, chemistry and math education.
We are on the Move: as our faculty continues to draw down o ver $4 million in research funding this year from the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the like.
We are on the Move; as recent York College graduates take their places among:
• The CUNY Salk Scholarship winners invited to intern at The Salk Institute, in LaJolla , CA ;
• As graduate students with scholarships to New York University School of Dentistry:
• As our journalists who publish the colleges monthly newspaper Pandora's Box are recognized as award winning journalism students by the Society of Professional Journalists.
• And I know this audience will like this! The College's Track & Field teams competed with excellence. Awards include the 2005 CUNY Men's Indoor & Outdoor Track & Field Champions, 1st Place Men's 4x4 Relay/Penn Relays; Women's 2nd Place 4x4 Relay/2005 ECAC Champions, and Women's 3rd Place CUNY Track & Field.
And our long time alumni are on the move, as they make major contributions to society as mayors of small cities, political consultants, doctors, nurses, Deputy commissioners within the New York City Police Department, CEOs of large and small business, and on the national scene as the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Bush administration, in the name of Gerald R Reynolds.
The Future for York : No Cakewalk
But it is not all a cakewalk. Some of my friends and family who have observed and studied my career path, comment on the fact that when I get the job, its pure work, never a cakewalk. I have earned the nick -name “the clean up woman.” I prefer to think of myself as a transformational leader.
At York's September convocation, I asked the faculty and staff to join me on a personal excursion to the year 2010 to a time when York's enrollment is bursting at the seams with 7000 students; at a time when some 300 or so students are registered in graduate programs; at a time when twenty of our best York College students are serving as interns at the Food and Drug Administration, which is located on leased property on our campus, having entered the college with full scholarships through our honors program. Additionally, by the year 2010
• The College has grown its tax-levy and private budget support to fully and robustly fund our plans for the year.
• Technology serving our academic programs and administrative services is ubiquitous and seamless
• Our four-year Nursing Program has graduated its first class of 25 with a[providing a] rich pipeline of prospective students to serve the needs of Queens .
• Our reputation in the Queens High School system propels large numbers of better prepared students to list us as their first choice and
• Our sister institutions of Queensborough and LaGuardia Community Colleges are encouraging their graduates to chose York to complete their higher education.
• As a college community, we are known for the “small-college” attention we provide in assuring student success.
That is the vision for 2010. But today York College faces a different reality.
• Our enrollment is 5,919 students
• We have only one graduate program--- Occupational Therapy
• Our Nursing programs is an upper division program only , thus frustrating potential freshman students.
• Some of our colleagues in the better performing high schools in Queens tell us that " York College is not on the radar screen" for their students.
• Our budget situation is so fragile; we started the year with a projected budget shortfall of 1.7 million in a budget of $34 million.
• The academic profile of our entering class demands our immediate attention: 25% of the incoming class have a high school average above 80; a full 75% have a high school average of 80 or lower.
As you see, to achieve my vision; it will be no cakewalk
LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD
In a recent Harvard Business review article entitled the Ambidextrous Organization, the authors O'Reilly and Tushman say the following: “The Roman god Janus had two sets of eyes-one pair focusing on what lays behind, the other on what lays ahead. General Managers and corporate executives and the “old boy” leaders among you should be able to relate. As they, too, must constantly look backward, attending to the products and processes of the past, while also gazing forward, preparing for the innovation that will define the future…” This mental balancing act requires executives to “explore” new opportunities at the same time that they work diligently to “exploit” existing capabilities. This is the task ahead for the transformational leader.
It is in this spirit that as the sixth president of York College I threw down the gauntlet to my leadership team, faculty, students and administrators and the community to transform York College to fulfill its promise by building on the following four foundations:
Strengthening Academic Programs and expanding the offerings of new programs, moving out of our comfort zone and into the Masters level.
Building capacity in critical flagship programs and market niches. This may lead us to explore new markets of students…including the new immigrants and going beyond the comfort zone of Southeast Queens, to all of Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island and Manhattan an expanding international audience.
Building external partnerships and linkages to community entrepreneurship, Adult & Continuing Education, Small Business Development Center, Peace Officer Training Academy, Aviation Institute and the Food & Drug Administration to name a few.
Improving Administrative and Academic Systems through a creative application of state-of the-art technology, improved budget control, and faculty/staff development resulting in administrative coherence in a student centered environment.
So these are the challenges facing York College as I assume the presidency, and as York is becoming a truly mature organization.
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP FOR YOU
The distinguished African American 20th century author James Baldwin said,
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing will be changed until
it is faced.”
This is so for you as an organization and for me as a new leader, as we walk down this road to the next five years of our institutions, and as we build a legacy for the next generation of leaders. As an organization, your challenge must now be to transform your mission to meet the emerging civic needs of twenty-first century youth. As you move forward on your mission to serve a worthy traditional focus, to be relevant and vibrant, you will also need to leverage your directions for a broader less parochial impact, moving out of your comfort zone, as I will do as the leader of York . No, I do not suggest that you abandon the core support of your alma mater. Rather, I recommend that you expand your cause to drill down to some of the hard core, thorny issues that face the next generation right here in Toronto as well as in Kingston .
___________________________________________
THE CHALLENGE TO THE OLD BOYS
The challenge of contemporary society---- here in Toronto , in New York , in Lagos , Nigeria , in London , England , in Jamaica , Queens, in Kingston , Jamaica , is the challenge of the growing disaffection especially of adolescent and teenage boys. I present you this challenge because you have such a legacy of success and because you have excellent role models among the “old boys” you have produced.
It is because of your unparalleled success in creating excellent leaders that I ask you to consider a special focus on adolescent, 12-17 year old boys, both locally, here in metropolitan Toronto and environs and in Jamaica . This is a group, which is at significant risk, and demands our sustained attention.
My friend and colleague Eugene Adams of Bronx Community College has studied this generation. These young men who are the inheritors of the Hip Hop Generation, a term he defines as the current cohort in our schools whose parents were influenced over 30 years ago by American culture, values and identity. Many of their children, the teens today, are hip hop slackers and wannabe gangstas who face unparalleled peer pressure and are targets of corporate and media pressures as well. When this exposure, which stresses materialism and the need to live for today, is combined with overcrowded schools, decreases in funding for the arts and after-school programs, and weak student core skill acquisition; we are faced with a need to redefine education, redefine educational partnerships and redefine civic responsibilities of organizations like yours. No community escapes the ravages of these values. With the Internet, cable TV and satellites, everything is global.
In the future, it will not be sufficient for us to think that our institutions, both yours and mine, will only accept those that are well prepared. Our missions have never been only to educate/ help the educated, or advance those who have privilege. Your charge and mine is to continue to expand the size of the prepared, to continuously seek ways to recapture those who have been marginalized or who have blindly and foolishly chosen to live on the margins, shepherding them safely back to the mainstream.
Listen up Old Boys and Supporters
This means that you, “Old Boys” must figure out ways to meet challenges outside of school -- in the areas of ethics, civics and meaningful social engagement, in entrepreneurship, in service learning, and in political and community awareness, as worthy adjuncts to what is done by the officials in charge of what goes on in the classrooms---- for these young men. This is the critical challenge for the next generation of men --- immigrant men, black men, Caribbean , Muslims, Hispanics, Southeast Asians, Indians, Chinese, mixed race men, Native Canadians, and others-- as they approach this fragile age in this complex world. They are falling further and further behind on all the indicators of success, be they academic, economic, social or physical and mental health. Yes, ladies and gentlemen--they are falling through the cracks of all contemporary societies.
My friends, the challenges are grave, but the key to success is already in your hands, in the wonderful organization you have built over these 32 years and in your network of chapters around the world.
It is now time for you here in the KC Old Boys Chapter of Greater Toronto to take it to the next level. As James Baldwin said: “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing will be changed until it is faced.”
Andre Miller is this year's head boy at Kingston College . He was recently elected by his sixth form peers. He was born on April 20, 1986 and received his early education at Holy Childhood Preparatory school .
Andre entered KC in 1999. He is currently president of KC's Inter School Christian Fellowship (ISCF) and is also vice president of the Kingston and St. Andrew Region ISCF. He is a member of the United Church of Jamaica and Cayman.
For a career, Andre has expressed an interest in I nternational Relations and Marketing. He currently has passes in six CXC “O” level subjects. He says he is definitely against KC following St. George's and admitting girls to its sixth form as he believes that the " Kollege" should retain its gender specificity and focus plus the Old Boys don't like it.
David Haughton, regarded by many as one the "brightest football minds" out of Jamaica , was laid to rest on Saturday, November 26, 2005, in Orlando , Florida , at 2:30 (1:30 local time).
Haughton, who went missing from his Orlando home, was found hanging from a tree in nearby woodland. His death is being treated as suicide.
Family insiders say that Haughton, 49, suffered from chronic depression.
Haughton - a former Cornwall College , Kingston College and Wolmer's student - was hailed as the man who was instrumental, along with Captain Horace Burrell , in the hiring of Brazilian Rene Simoes, who led the Reggae Boyz to the 1998 France World Cup Finals.
"When I became president of the JFF I looked around to find an individual who was competent and qualified to assist in the selection of a technical director of the national programme, and David was my choice," said Burrell by telephone from Florida yesterday.
Burrell said it was Haughton and himself who went to Brazil to interview a number of coaches for the job, and in the end, they both decided that Simoes was the best man.
" David will be sadly missed, in particular by the football fraternity... he was a passionate man, soft-spoken but effective," said Burrell, who will be attending the funeral.
Leighton McKnight , a friend, remembers Haughton as a man of vision. "He is one of the greatest minds I have worked with. He was down to earth but had depth," he said.
Haughton leaves behind children Malik and Mackeda and wife Tina .
Mrs. Ivy Claire Nation, the mother of Dennis Nation a founding member of the KCOBA ( Toronto ) and a former director, recently passed on. Funeral service for the late Ivy Nation was held at St. Margaret in the Pines Anglican Church ( Toronto ) on Saturday November 19, 2005. Our prayers are for Dennis , Jack and the entire Nation family.
