CICPSU

MR. ALEXANDER BERNARD CHAPMAN, H.B.M.

Born on January 20, 1927, Alexander Bernard Chapman attended Nelson Street Boys’ RC and then proceeded to St. Mary’s College. At College, he was a member of the Cadet Corps attaining the rank of Corporal. During his teenage years, he tried his hand at weightlifting with the Lighthouse Boys Barbell Club of Duke Street, Port of Spain, but soon realised that this was not to be his calling. He then chose to represent his club at meetings of the Amateur Physical Culture Association of Trinidad and Tobago. This turned out to be the beginning of a career in Sport Administration which spanned over 60 years.

In 1954, he was selected as the Manager and Weightlifting Coach of the Trinidad and Tobago team to the then British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada.

He attended all Commonwealth Games up to the year 2011, with the exception of the Games of 1974 and 1986. He served as Manager of the Trinidad and Tobago teams at the Pan American Games from 1959 to 2003, and at the Central American Games, he served as General Team Manager and Weightlifting Coach from 1962 to 2010. His first Olympic Games outing was in Melbourne, Australia in 1956, as General Manager and Coach of weightlifters Rodney Wilkes and Lennox Kilgour. Also, being a Class 1 International Referee, he served as a side referee at these Games. Since then, he accompanied the Trinidad and Tobago contingent at every Olympic Games up to the Games of 2004.

1962 marked the beginning of his very long association with the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, then called the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Association. He served initially as Assistant Secretary/Treasurer and, after a year, was elevated to the post of General Secretary, which he held for 26 years. In 1989, he was elected as President and served in that capacity until 1997, and then as Immediate Past President for another eight years. He was made an Honorary Member of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee in 2000.

In 1998, in honour of his years of service, the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee dedicated an award in his name. This award is presented at their annual awards function to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to Sport and Olympism during the year, particularly in the promotion or forwarding of the Olympic Ideals.

He was selected as one of the 50 Sports Legends (1962 – 2012), an Honorary Member of the Central American and Caribbean Sports Organisation, and a Life Vice President of the Commonwealth Games Federation.
He is the recipient of many national and international sporting awards. Among his awards are:
- Honorary Medal, from the International Weightlifting Federation
- Merit Award, from the Association of National Olympic Committees
- Pan American Olympic Collar, from the Pan American Sports Organisation
- Induction into the Trinidad and Tobago Sports Hall of Fame
- The Millennium Sport Award, as one of the most outstanding Sport Administrators

In 1983, he was awarded The Humming Bird Medal (Silver), for long and meritorious contribution to sport.

FR. ANGUS FRASER, C.S.SP.

Fr. Angus Fraser was born in St. Vincent on April 18, 1931, the last of nine siblings. At the time, most of the population in St. Vincent were Anglicans and Catholicism was all but scorned in that country. His father was a Presbyterian and his mother an Anglican, as were most of his siblings, himself included.

While attending primary school in St. Vincent, he chanced upon Catholicism when one of his friends asked him to accompany him to an Anglican Church, where he was to assist the priest in the sacrifice of the mass. As his loyal friend, Angus agreed. “I am going to Anglican Mass tomorrow morning,” he announced with aplomb to his eldest sister, with whom he was living. She was enthused and they proceeded to search the house for a prayer book, which was rarely ever used.

The next day, he left home for the 30-minute walk to the magnificent Anglican Cathedral. On reaching the huge gate and walkway of the Cathedral, he hesitated as he thought that he could not enter through this opulent, regal entrance and proceeded to the next gate. On reaching the gate, he got increasingly nervous and continued walking until he came to the third and last gate. Still he could not bring himself to enter and walked on.
Further down the road, he saw a small colourless building with no gardens and parks in front of it. It was the Catholic Church. At the time, there were rumours that Catholics whipped non-Catholics if they entered their Church. He called out to a boy who was about to enter and asked if he could enter or will he be beaten. “Of course, go inside. It’s a Church, anybody can go in at anytime,” the boy replied briskly and strode in. So, he entered unsure of how to conduct himself and sat down very nervously, but was shocked to find that he enjoyed himself, especially the hymns.

When he returned home his sister, eager to find out his opinion of the worship session, asked him how was the Anglican Mass. He replied honestly that he did not go there as he was afraid and went to the Catholic Church instead. She rebuked him telling him, “don’t ever do that again”. However, he was immovable and insisted on going to the Catholic Church from then on. When this was told to his parents, after careful consideration, they told him that they did not mind and he could continue going to the Catholic Church if he wished, but, they will never give him permission to become a Catholic. The parish priest, Fr. Charles, was very friendly with the family and this helped break down some of the prejudices the family had against Catholics.

He eventually became a Catholic and moved to Trinidad to attend Mt. St. Benedict’s College. It was in his final year at Mt. St. Benedict’s that he made his decision to become a priest. He went to St. Mary’s College to speak to the principal, Fr. James Brett. There was an intercol match that day against QRC and Fr. Brett was about to leave to attend the match when Angus approached him. “Father, I would like to see you for a few minutes” he asked. “Oh, most certainly, what can I do for you?” Fr. Brett replied. Without hesitation, he said, “I would like to be a Holy Ghost Father.” “Oh, that’s excellent!” Fr. Brett replied and, owing to his haste to attend the intercol match, he added, “I will hand you over right away to Fr. Cristobal Valdez and you will come to see him when he is back from the football match.” When they arrived at Fr. Valdez’s office, however, providence had it that he had not yet left for the football match. He told him that he would have to visit weekly for spiritual guidance. Thus, for the rest of the academic year, he made the 15-mile weekly journey from St. Benedict to Port of Spain. When the school year finished, Fr. Valdez insisted that he attend St. Mary’s College for his Higher Certificate studies so that his spiritual guidance could be accelerated.
He completed his Novitiate at the University of Montreal, Canada and returned to St. Mary’s College to do his “prefecting” as a teacher. He taught 30 classes a week for three years and was then posted to the Holy Ghost Theological College, Dublin, Ireland, where he was eventually ordained on July 12, 1959. He was posted to Nigeria and has remained there ever since, expect for a brief period at the Holy Ghost College in Radlett, England.

He is the founder and Master General of the Via Christi Society, a Public Association aspiring to become a Society of Apostolic Life of Diocesan Right. Its objective is to form young men into priests. The first group completed Postulancy in 1995. To date, the Society has produced over 20 priests, some of whom have been posted in the Caribbean, primarily St. Lucia.
He has held the position of Principal of Mt. St. Gabriel’s Secondary School, Makurdi, Nigeria since 1971 and was conferred with the national award of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic (M.F.R.) by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in 2005.

It is said that he is a master of non-verbal communication and no one who has met him has remained the same.

DR. WINSTON INCE, C.M.

Born on December 02, 1930 in Tunapuna, the fourth of eight siblings, Dr. Winston Ince spent his early childhood in La Brea. He attended La Brea R.C. School, where he won an exhibition to attend Naparima College in 1940. However, as he was just nine years old, his Headmaster advised him to decline and work towards securing a place at St. Mary’s College.

This he duly accomplished the following year and he entered St. Mary’s College in January 1942. At St. Mary’s, he won a Junior House Scholarship in 1945 and was runner-up, to Fr. Gerard Pantin, another CIC Alumnus, in the Island Scholarship in Science in 1947, securing the Jerningham Book Prize. In 1948, he won the Island Scholarship in Science and the Dr. Stollmeyer Medal for Science. He taught Form V and Form VI Science at the College for several months in 1949.

He entered Acton Technical College in London, England and completed an intermediate B.Sc. in Chemistry as a requirement for admission to Medicine at Cambridge University. At Cambridge, he obtained the ‘Prelim. to the Natural Science Tripos’ with First Class Honours, winning a Tripos prize and a College Exihibition in 1952. The following year, he obtained the B.A. degree with First Class honours and was awarded a Tripos prize and the title, Scholar of Sidney Sussex College.

He then entered University College Hospital, London for his clinical training, graduating with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1956 and went on to obtain his postgraduate diplomas of Membership of the Royal College of Physicians Edinburg, specialising in Cardiology, in 1960 and Membership of the Royal College of Physicians, London in 1961. He was subsequently elected to the Fellowship of both Royal Colleges.
He served as Senior Registrar in Medicine at the Port of Spain General Hospital and, later on, as Consultant Physician in Internal Medicine and Cardiology.

For more than 50 years, his career was focused on Clinical Medicine, Clinical Cardiology and teaching. He was Associate Lecturer in Medicine from the inception of the Eastern Caribbean Medical Scheme of the University of the West Indies in 1967, teaching medical students and serving as an examiner in the final examinations in Medicine. He managed and developed the Paediatric and Adult Cardiology services at the Port of Spain General Hospital for over 25 years, retiring in 1990. In 1978, he introduced Echocardiography at the Port of Spain General Hospital and played a significant role in the development of this service. Despite his retirement, he continues to be involved in the training of echocardiographic technicians, as Honorary Consultant Physician in the Echocardiography Department at the hospital.

Among his many accomplishments was the securing of open heart surgery free of charge, for over 100 children with congenital heart disease, from the late ‘60’s to the late ‘80’s, through the kind generosity of the Cardiologists and Cardiac Surgeons at the Hospital for Sick Children and St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada. He has also served as Physician to Prime Ministers and Heads of State for many years.
He is quoted by his friend for over 60 years, Professor Knolly Butler, himself a member of the St. Mary’s College Hall of Fame, as advising young people with scientific aspirations that they should “always aim at performing to the best of their ability, work hard, read extensively, and seek truth, wherever it may be found.”

On the lighter side, he is reputed to have given this excuse to Fr. Graf for being late for class, “experience has taught me that I must not tempt the elements when they are fretful.” To this, Fr. Graf retorted, “You must write that out 100 times.”
 
He is the recipient of several honours and awards, including:

– Trinidad and Tobago Medical Association Scroll of Honour
– Honour Award from Caribbean Cardiac Society, Jamaica
– Honour Award from the North West Regional Hospital Board on the 150th Anniversary
– Profile included in the book Heroes of Tunapuna by St. Charles High School
– Feature in Trinidad and Tobago Icons in Science and Technology, Vol II

He was awarded The Chaconia Medal (Gold) in 1989.

BRIGADIER GENERAL JOSEPH L. THEODORE (RET’D), M.O.M., E.D.

Brigadier General Joseph L. Theodore (Ret’d.) dedicated his career to the military and service to his country. His love for the military began while attending St. Mary’s College, where he became a member of the Cadet Corps and attained the rank of Sergeant Major.

After leaving College, he continued his service in the Corps as an Adult Warrant Officer. He then went on to serve as a Commissioned Officer in the Jamaica Local Forces (Regiment), the West India Regiment and the Jamaica Defence Force, before returning to take up an appointment in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment.

As a graduate of the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, England, he enjoyed a rich and accomplished career in the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force. He is best remembered for his Operational Command of the Force during the failed coup and hostage crisis in 1990. Using his training in International Relations, Negotiation and Mediation, he successfully negotiated the release of the hostages and the surrender of the insurgents. He retired in 1991 as Chief of Defence Staff.

On his retirement, he took up a posting at TSTT as a Manager with responsibility for safety and security. In 1995, he accepted another call to serve and became a Senator and the Minister of National Security, serving for five years. His tenure saw the implementation of many new initiatives, among which were:

– The National E999 Rapid Response System
– An Automated Fingerprinting System
– A Highway Patrol Unit

– The Community Policing Programme

– Computerisation of Police Stations

He is the recipient of several medals and awards, including:

– The Efficiency Decoration (ED)
– The Queen’s Medal (Army) for Rifle Shooting
– The Caribbean Cadet Medal
– The Jamaica Independence Medal
– The Anti-Terrorist Medal
– The Venezuelan Military Order of Defence, Rank of Knight Commander

He was awarded The Public Service Medal of Merit (Gold) in 1991.

Sadly, Brigadier Theodore died on September 21, 2013, some two weeks before he was due to be inducted into the St. Mary's College Hall of Fame, an event he was looking forward to with much anticipation.
Upon his death, countless tributes were paid to him by many people, all of whom described him as a national hero and an iconic leader. About his service to the country as a Minister of Government, it was said, "He was into Government but not into politics". Major General (Ret'd) Ralph Brown, second in command to Brigadier Theodore during the successful quelling of the attempted coup in 1990, in recalling the insurrection said: "Our country owes a debt of gratitude for the role he played. He was a true patriot".

No one will deny that Brigadier Joseph L. Theodore was indeed, 'An Officer and a Gentleman'.
 

MR. MICHAEL JAY WILLIAMS

Michael Jay Williams was born on October 16, 1929, the fourth of ten siblings. He attended Tranquility Intermediate Boy’s School, before moving on to St. Mary’s College.
During his years at College, he was a member of the Sixth Trinidad Sea Scouts and helped to build “Maris Stella”, the Scout House on Gasparee Island. After leaving St. Mary’s, he studied engineering at Queen’s University, Ontario, Canada.

In 1965, he established Century Eslon Limited, the first and most respected manufacturer of PVC pipes and fittings in Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean.

He was also instrumental in the formation of Spancrete Caribbean Limited (now Spancast), pioneering the manufacture of pre-stressed concrete products.

He was also involved in the political arena, being one of the first members of the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR). When this party won the General Election in 1986, he was elected to the post of President of the Senate. He served in this capacity until 1990 and, during that period, frequently acted as President of the Republic.

Now 84 years old, he has retired to a lifelong interest in repairing clocks and has restored to working order, clocks at Mount St. Benedict, San Fernando City Hall, Trinity Cathedral, the Industrial Court, the Century Eslon clock at Macoya and, of course, St. Mary’s College.

His sense of justice and fairplay has made him an anticorruption lobbyist, unceasingly calling for transparency and accountability in government and public office. To this day, he continues to pen letters to the Editors of the local newspapers on matters of national concern.

It would be fair to say that his life has been guided by The Scout Motto “Res Non Verba” (action not words), which he still upholds. He has maintained very close association with his Alma Mater and Past Students’ Union and is a Past President of the Union.