Many who knew Desmond Waithe, 77, referred to him as “Uncle Desmond,” and so many mourned when news of his death was shared on Wednesday.
The noted steelband arranger, chorister, educator and University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) lecturer died on April 20 after a prolonged illness.
He was awarded the Humming Bird Medal (silver) in 1993 for outstanding contribution to music in TT. He is also well-known for his work with the Marionettes Chorale.
He was also the father of Melanie Waithe, head of Newsday's subediting department.
Pan Trinbago issued a statement about Waithe’s passing, saying he was a musician, educator, conductor and arranger who made a significant contribution to the steelpan community and to TT’s culture.
Pan Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore said in a phone interview on Wednesday that when she heard of his death on Wednesday morning she was shocked.
“Especially in this time, when so many of our musicians and our leaders in the pan movement are going home to be with the Lord. I was really shocked we lost another great man.
“We really want to express our condolences to his family, friends and Exodus steel orchestra. He was involved with Exodus and doing great work to build the orchestra.”
Exodus manager Ainsworth Mohammed said he had lost more than a friend, but a brother.
“Our relationship with Desmond started not just with Exodus, because we are all Tunapuna people.”
He said Waithe was with Nutones before that, and 1987 was the first time he arranged for the band for Panorama, choosing This Party Is It by Christopher “Tambu” Herbert.
“We were in the finals with that Panorama. Thereafter, he did classical music for us.
"Desmond’s relationship with Exodus is more than that too. Desmond was the founder of Exocubs, our junior music school.”
Mohammed recalled that Waithe was responsible for giving the music school its name. He said this came out of a session when the junior players were invited to play at an event in Connecticut, US.
“He has always helped out. He grilled the band.
"He is more than an arranger or music teacher for the band, he was more family. And so many of our people know him as Uncle Desmond and that sort of thing,” Mohammed said, becoming emotional.
He added however the family wished for him to be honoured, the bandwould do so.
“I have lost a friend and a brother. We grew up in Tunapuna, the families knew each other in Tunapuna. It was more than just the relationship with steelband and music. There was far more to it than it….it is more like a brother I have lost,” he said becoming emotional again.
BP Renegades president Colin Greaves said Waithe worked with Renegades for many years as its classical music director, a position he took up in 2007.
He said, in fact, Waithe took the band on multiple tours all over the world, including the largest classical music festival in France, La Folle Journee.
“Under his stewardship at La Folle Journee, BP Renegades would have really acquired a world-class and world-renowned reputation for being leaders in classical music repertoires.
“In addition to that, Mr Waithe was really a father figure in the band. So many of the players have been sharing stories about his involvement and influence on their lives, in terms of mentoring, advising them on what path they should take.”
He said Waithe was also a stickler for discipline and a father figure in the band and pan community.
“A couple of weeks or days before he passed – because we knew he was pretty ill – he was recently working with us up until December 2021, because we were preparing to go to La Folle Journee, but we had some issues with getting vaccination clearance documents and stuff,” Greaves said.
Waithe made it known then that it would have been his last trip with the band. He said the band cherished the last couple of months it was able to spend with Waithe.
He said Waithe's death is a huge loss to BP Renegades and the pan community.
He added that Waithe expressed his final wishes to the band and in the coming days it will announce details of wakes in the panyard, among other plans.
One of his best friends, veteran pierrot grenade Felix Edinborough, said he first met Waithe at Mausica Teachers’ College. Waithe taught him to play the cuatro then, he said, and they were both in the Mausica Teachers’ choir.
After Mausica, Waithe formed a choir called Chaconia Singers and Edinborough was also a member.
“Anytime he wanted a script – he would do little shows – I would be the one writing the script, organising and directing the shows for him,” he recalled.
Waithe formed another choir after this called Stentor Choir and they also worked together there.
“We did some tours together. For example, we went to Montserrat together with the group to do some shows,” he said.
Edinborough said he and Waithe also worked together with late dancer Molly Ahye and toured the US and Canada with her.
Waithe also worked on Best Village shows for Tunapuna and Edinborough for Petit Valley, but they “always collaborated because we were in Belmont together (Belmont Boys' Secondary School).”
Waithe taught there for over 33 years.
Edinborough said Waithe was like a brother to him and anytime he wanted to know more about music and the cuatro, Waithe would help him.
“We were a good team together. We did one or two shows together at Queen’s Hall,” he said.
Dr Mia Gormandy-Benjamin, assistant professor of music at UTT and artistic director of Trinidad All Stars Steel Orchestra – who worked with Waithe at UTT and who was also once his student – said Waithe was an icon and walking encyclopaedia.
“If you met him, you surely would have heard a story or two about the history of calypso, pan, parang, or any other local style of music. He was also kind, generous, and a witty individual who cracked jokes very easily, which made everyone around him laugh heartily.”
She added that he was a teacher, friend and colleague to many and his impact was clearly shown through the widespread response to his passing.
“Today we shed tears of sadness, but also of joy for having had the opportunity to know this amazing and inspiring individual. We will forever remember him through the beautiful music he has written and the legacies of the many organisations he has impacted,” she said.
Waithe leaves to mourn his wife Melissa Lynch Waithe, children Melanie, Jace, Marvin and Jordan and five grandchildren. (Source: Newsday, April 20, 2022)

The St. Augustine Campus Community announces the appointment of Trinidad and Tobago born Dr Rhonda McEwen has been appointed president and vice-chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto.
According to this release, Dr Rhonda McEwen begins her 5-year tenure on July 1, 2022.
Details follow in this press release from the UWI:
The St. Augustine Campus Community is celebrating the achievement of a daughter of the soil and an Honours graduate of their campus. Trinidad and Tobago born Dr Rhonda McEwen has been appointed president and vice-chancellor of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. She will be the 14th president and vice-chancellor of one of Canada’s oldest universities when her 5-year tenure begins on July 1, 2022.
She completed her Bachelor of Science degree, with First Class Honours, in sociology and management at The University of West Indies, St. Augustine (UWI)and went on to obtain an MBA in IT from City, University of London, England; an MSc in Telecommunications from the University of Colorado; and a PhD in Information from University of Toronto.
 “Graduates of The University of the West Indies can be found across the world and at the highest levels in academia and the professions. Dr McEwen’s success at our Campus foretold the great things to come. On behalf of the St. Augustine Campus, I congratulate her on the latest in her many successes”, said Pro Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Brian Copeland.
Dr. McEwen is Canada Research Chair in Tactile Interfaces, Communication and Cognition and a Professor of Emerging Media & Communication. She is currently Vice-Principal Academic and Dean at the University of Toronto Mississauga, and a faculty member at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology. Her particular areas of focus are Human-Machine Communication; Cognitive Effects of Media; Tactile Interfaces; Tablet Communication; Cognitive Informatics; Device Mediation; and Virtual Reality. (Source: T&T Guardian, April 12, 2022)

On Christmas Eve 2011, William Edwards died at the San Fernando General Hospital, three days after falling ill. He was 87 years old and had outlived his wife, only child and every sibling. Edwards, who lived alone in his final years, was considered by some as a recluse, so his passing was unknown to many in his village of Brothers, Tabaquite.
Only a small circle of family and friends attended the funeral at Belgroves Crematorium to send him off. But a peculiar thing happened in the weeks following his passing.
As news began trickling through the village that he had died, memories stirred, and “Eddie” was alive again in the mind’s eye of those who remember him.
There he was, leaning out the open window of a locomotive, sounding the steam whistle, calling out to neighbours as his engine pulled the carriages carrying people, pr­oduce and cargo along the train line linking Rio Claro to the rest of the island.
It turns out that Edwards, who found employment as a boilerman at Trinidad Government Railway (TGR) on June 30, 1942, had worked his way up to being an engine driver.
He was in charge of one of the engines that travelled a system extending between Port of Spain and as far as Siparia, Sangre Grande and Princes Town.
By the time his employer made him redundant and sent engine driver Eddie home on October 25, 1966, he was a man with a skill no one needed.
He would later find employ­ment as a wardsman at the same hospital where he would die.
Last train 
For the citizens who used the line between Jerningham Junction and the stops in Longdenville, Todd’s Road, Caparo, Brasso, Tabaquite, Brothers, San Pedro and Rio Claro, Eddie would always be remembered as the man who drove the train to Rio Claro the last day it ever carried passengers—August 30, 1965 (the same day of the celebrated “Last Train to San Fernando” from Port of Spain).
The Express spent several days following the path of the railway out of Rio Claro to discover that two generations after the end of the rail, many still have vivid memories and unresolved complaints.
Some blame the econo­mic and infrastructural decline over the decades on the State’s decision to replace the railway with buses.
People wanted to know why no one had thought to preserve the TGR buildings, signal boxes, road crossings and platforms.
The people of Dades Trace where a TGR building still exists, asked why no one had maintained the impressive homes of the station masters—Coudray, Villa­fana, McAllister, Mit­chell, Superville, McIntosh—who were of significant social standing.
Like clockwork 
Does anyone know how important this rail line was back then, asked villager Lucy Ashby.
She said that back then, it was either the train or having to foot it out of her village of cocoa plantation workers.
Now, the only evidence of its existence, said Ashby, were the concrete and steel bridge crossings too difficult for scrap dealers to steal.
Her sister, Angela Charles, who paid four cents to travel by train into Rio Claro to see Carnival in the ’50s, said she often wondered what would have become of her life if the train, which allowed travel into the capital, had continued operating.
Khairoon Shah, who was 88 years old when we spoke with her, said as a newlywed, she was walking the kilometre or so to Brothers Station as far back as 1942 to catch the train to visit her family in Libertville.
“That engine was loud and you knew it was coming from the long trail of black smoke from the chimney. One headed up to Rio Claro for 9 a.m., passing back at 11 o’clock. Another went up at 2 p.m. and back down at four. And the train was always there on the exact time, bringing people and mail, bread, ice, carrying back cocoa and coffee and sugar cane. So you had to be there or you lose out,” she said.
Shah said on the final day the passenger train rolled, “Edwards was the one who drove it from Jerningham. They gave a free ride and we rode all day and in the night.” 
Her son, Khairoon Shah, said he, too, as a teenager, understood something big and sad was happening that day when the seven cent fare from Brothers Station to Rio Claro was waived.
“They never should have scrapped it. The village felt connected then. When it stopped running, it killed this area,” he said.
Photographic memory 
As a result of a series of fortunate events, one of the most substantial Trinidad Government Railway buildings outside of Port of Spain still exists where the Brothers Station stood.
The family of the ticketmaster remained occupants of the building when the train service ended, and on January 13, 1975, it was acquired by Stephen Subero, himself a lifetime worker with the railway.
The building, likely used by the stationmaster, compri­ses a living area, three bedrooms and a detached kitchen, which prevented the entire house from going up in flames in the event of a fire there. The outhouse is also still there, along with two concrete cisterns to supply the property, locomotive and passengers of the time.
Subero, who raised ten children in that building, recalled when the carria­ges pulled up and villagers came with their bull and donkey-drawn carts to collect the items they had purchased from “town”.
“Let nobody fool you, nothing about the rail was easy. My father (Henry Ayers) had the job of checking the line (all 13 or so kilometres) from here to Rio Claro before 6 a.m. to make sure no big tree fall across. Only when he say so, the train would run,” he said.
Despite a hard life, Subero said he recog­nised early that the building in which he made a life was different. 
“People from all over Trinidad have come here to ask questions about the train and take photographs. I never had photos because back then it was survi­val.
I walked barefoot for the first 36 years of my life. But these people who come here want to learn about the railway. They amazed this place still here. So as long as I am alive, I will take care of it,” he said.
Subero, who can trace his family back to Venezuela, then declared that he was the former bandleader of the Naya Sangeet Orchestra of Brothers Road, and sang for us an Indian classical composition. 
The Express found some of Eddie’s relatives in Plea­santville, San Fernando.
They remembered a proud man with a photographic memory. He was also a stick fighter, cricketer, had a passport but never left Trinidad, and got a driver’s permit but never owned a car.
What he loved most, they said, was telling stories about his time as a railway man and was disappointing that his knowledge and name never became part of the public record.
Now they are. (Source: Daily Express, Feb 16, 2022)
• Note: Richard Charan can be contacted at richard.charan@trinidadexpress.com.

Dana Reyes and Tyrese Clement have been awarded Fullerton-Long Caribbean scholarships by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) Foundation.
Both are third-year students of the actuarial sciences programme at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science and Technology, at the UWI St Augustine Campus.
The pair were selected from a list of UWI’s most gifted and highest performing actuarial students. They each won scholarships worth US$2,150.
The Fullerton-Long Caribbean Scholarship was set up by UK-based senior actuaries of Jamaican heritage, Andrew Long and Norbert Fullerton. Both are ambassadors of the IFoA Foundation and UWI alumni,
The IFoA Foundation is the dedicated charitable arm of the IFoA. The foundation works with the global actuarial community to meet its philanthropic objectives for positive societal impact.
Earlier this academic year, the foundation took the opportunity to launch a fund supporting the most gifted and highest-performing young actuaries studying at UWI.
IFoA's chair of trustees Kartina Tahir Thomson said, "The IFoA Foundation is delighted to work alongside Norbert and Andrew on the IFoA Foundation Fullerton-Long Scholarship Award. The scholarship award aims to support Caribbean students in their academic career. Not only would the students benefit financially, they would also benefit from the opportunity the award brings.
"Thanks to the scholarship award, we will have an even more diverse workforce and membership in the actuarial profession. The addition of other supporters’ contributions to the fund going forward will mean that we are able to offer this highly coveted scholarship to even more promising students from the region."
In 2021 the Fullerton-Long Scholarship was initiated for the UWI Mona actuarial programme, offering two awards of USD$2,150 each. This year it has partnered with the IFoA Foundation and secured extra funding to expand the programme to St Augustine.
Stokeley Smart, senior lecturer and co-ordinator of the BSc in actuarial science, said, “The IFoA Foundation Fullerton-Long Caribbean Scholarship and, in particular, Mr Fullerton and Mr Long, represent the very core of the UWI’s values. These sons of the region and UWI alumni are exemplary global leaders in their field and are eager to give back to UWI and contribute to the development of the region.”
Those eligible for the new IFoA Foundation Fullerton-Long Caribbean Scholarship must be:
Caribbean Community (Caricom) citizens
Students registered at UWI full time for a BSc degree with a major in mathematics or actuarial science
At Level II or III of their studies
Strong academic performance, with a minimum average GPA 3.3 in their previous year’s UWI exams
Strong leadership and teamwork skills
Demonstrable involvement in their local community and an outstanding character
Students committed to joining an actuarial professional body. (Source: Newsday, January 5, 2022)

Memories of calypsonian Kenny J (Kenwrick Joseph) and grief flooded social media following his death.
Kenny J spent what was one of his favourite times of the year, Christmas, at the Augustus Long Hospital, Pointe-a-Pierre, fighting for his life.
After a two-week battle with Covid-19, which saw him being treated in the intensive care unit, Kenny J succumbed to the dreaded virus that has claimed close to 3,000 lives in Trinidad and Tobago.
His daughter, Jesselle Joseph, yesterday confirmed that her father was fully vaccinated. He was 69 years old.
Kenny J was featured recently in a public service announcement video series spearheaded by promoter Randy Glasgow and produced by the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB).
The series comprised short video clips in which artistes and other popular personalities encouraged members of the general public to get vaccinated.
Playing his guitar, Kenny J sang, “Doh hesitate, just vaccinate. Yuh want to go in the mall, yuh want tings get back normal. Yuh want to see Kenny sing…”
Prior to falling ill, Kenny J performed at several Christmas events, including a WACK FM Christmas special and the Parang with Rome concert, where he reminded audiences to get vaccinated and to always be careful.
Honey-dipped voice
A retired police officer, Kenny J won the National Police Services Calypso Monarch title in 1987. From there he began to perform professionally and in 1990 he placed second in the National Calypso Monarch final having sung, “Addicted To Sweet Soca” and “Leave She Alone”.
Kenny J possessed a honey-dipped voice just like Baron and Sugar Aloes, which made him a hit with both men and women.
His quiet manner and infectious smile endeared him to his fellow calypsonians who considered him the consummate gentleman.
Kenny J tried his hand at soca parang in 1993, releasing “The Paint Brush,” a well-crafted double entendre that became an instant hit.
The song became synonymous with Kenny J and the Christmas season, through the years becoming an evergreen classic. He would enjoy the same level of success with two other soca parang releases during the 1990s, “Alexander” and “Hush Yuh Mout,” which guaranteed Kenny J work during the Christmas season for over two decades.
True cultural icon
Kenny J died one day after the calypso fraternity lost Clifton Ryan, the Mighty Bomber, who was 93.\
Speaking briefly with the Express yesterday, president of the Police Service Social and Welfare Association Insp Gideon Dickson extended his condolences to the family of the former policeman.
“We were deeply saddened upon hearing the news today. We would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends, and retired colleagues of Mr Kenny J.
His legacy will certainly live on in his music. May his soul rest in eternal peace,” Dickson said.
Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell paid tribute to both men in a social media post: “My deepest condolences to the families of Mighty Bomber and Kenny J.
Thank you for the contribution you made to enhancing our music and for taking Trinidad and Tobago internationally. May you both rest in peace. Folded hands.”
And National Carnival Commission (NCC) chairman and calypsonian Winston “Gypsy” Peters, in a Facebook post yesterday, extended “condolences to the family of Kenwrick ‘Kenny J’ Joseph, the fraternity will surely miss you. Rest In Peace!”
Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar extended condolences, stating: “Rest in Peace to a true cultural icon Kenny J. Condolences to all his loved ones during this time of mourning.” (Source: Trinidad Express, Jan 2, 2022)

After its closure to the public almost two years ago, the Asa Wright Nature Centre (AWNC) plans to reopen its doors in 2022 with a new partner, HADCO Limited.
An official statement issued by Professor Judith Gobin, Chair of the AWNC Board, notes that the Centre’s successfully separated its conservation operations from the ecolodge, paving the way for a new era at Asa Wright
“In September, the Asa Wright Nature Centre (AWNC) invited proposals for the operation of the ecolodge at its internationally renowned Spring Hill Estate. The separation of the operation of the ecolodge business will allow the Centre to refocus on its core mission of conservation, education and scientific research,” the release explained.


“In response to the call for proposals, the Centre received a number of proposals from various corporate entities. After a rigorous evaluation and approval process, the Chair on behalf of the Trustees of the Board of the AWNC and the members of the Board are pleased to announce that HADCO Limited emerged as the successful proposer,” it added.
HADCO Limited started in 1992 and “HADCO” has since become a household name in Trinidad and Tobago. While the HADCO Group of Companies is well known for its food and beverage services, within the last five years the group has diversified its business to include two recycling companies. The HADCO Group is now seeking to diversify its business even further, into the ecotourism market.
“The ecolodge at the Asa Wright Nature Centre will be the flagship property of its ecotourism business. AWNC and HADCO will collaborate to transform the operations of the ecolodge at Spring Hill Estate to attain international green certification in sustainable operations,” the statement from the Board revealed.


It added: “Over the next few weeks, the Centre and HADCO will engage in negotiations on the terms of its concession for the operation of the ecolodge. The Centre and HADCO look forward to welcoming our old and new friends and supporters to the Asa Wright Nature Centre and the Ecolodge at Spring Hill Estate in 2022.”
In addition, while the doors of the Centre were closed, it continued its’ conservation work, and the Board believes this important legacy will be preserved for future generations in light of the new partnership.
“The proposed partnership is one step on the path to creating an immersive experience where present and future generations can learn and understand the value of our natural landscape, flora and fauna, The Centre looks forward to sharing some of its ongoing projects and work through its social media platforms in the near future.” (
Source: CNC3  Dec 20, 2021)