My Fortis journey was enriching, edifying and exhilarating intellectually, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
I was blessed to be influenced by great teachers-leaders, schoolmates and other mentors in the KC community (ground staff, auxiliary workers, old boys, parents, church leaders, well-wishers, etc.). I benefited from the brilliance and enlightenment of teacher-leaders like Mr. Keith Bryan, Ms. Serrant, Mr. “Younger” Goldsmith, Bishop Gibson (brief visits), Mr. Douglas Forrest, Right Rev. Don Taylor, Rev. Dr. John McNab, Mr. Carlton Bruce, Mr. Bair, Ms. Rachel Manley, Mrs. Yvonne Brewster-Jones, Mr. Trevor Rhone, Rev. Weevil Gordon, Ms. J. Reid, Mr. Bramwell, Mr. John Burrows, Mr. Bernard Mair, Mr. Ashby, Ms. Morck, Mr. Acsentowicz, Mrs. Thompson , (history teacher and Glanville Thompson’s aunt), Mr. Gladwin Kiddoe, Cadet Captain Phillips, Cadet Lt. Codling , Cadet Lt. Oakley and many others.
I was a contemporary of exceptional schoolmates such as Oliver Harrison (Headboy, 1975), Whylie Chambers, Neil Chambers (my brother), Dr. Ivor Nugent, Dr. Kenneth Vaughn, Leonard Lothian, Karl Graham, John Hall, Maurice and Richard Brown, Richard and Courtney Daye, Stafford Batchelor, Barrington (BG) Gordon, Howard Barrett, Wayne Denny, Winston Cowans, Douglas Stiebel, Rev. Sirrano Kitson, Dr. Peter-John Gordon, Clive Mullings, Audley (Fern) Patterson, Nyron Johnson, Barry Salmon, Dr. Selbourne Goode, Kingsley Cooper, Winston Stewart, Leighton Dawes, Garfield Parker, Robert Kelly, Michael Shaw (Cadet platoon Sgt.), Ronald and Noel Gray, Dr. Derrick Aarons, Michael Holding, Delroy Chuck (Rhodes Scholar), Dr. Carlos Escoffery, Dr. Stephen Vasciannie (Rhodes Scholar), Dr. Michael Fitz-Henley, Dr. Winston Blake (Cadet Quartermaster Sgt.), Professor Rainford Wilks, Howard Bell, Douglas Bell, Balford (Ballie) Reid, Michael, Richard & Gerry Murray, Oscar Darby, Christopher and John Prescod , Mark Neita, Dr. Patrick Dallas, Dr. Cedric Lazarus, Wigmore Francis, Glen Bowlin, Dennis Duncan, Trevor (TC) Campbell and Dr. Leahcim Semaj (aka Michael James) among others.
Highlights of my sojourn at KC were:
Being classmate of a diverse and gifted group of guys from 1Delta through 6A Science among these being Dr. Ivor Nugent, Joseph (Tony) Ho lung (electrical engineer and nephew of Father Richard Ho lung), Dr. Kenneth Vaughn (UWI Hospital), Dodrick Escoffery, Whylie Chambers (electrical engineer in Atlanta, GA) and Glanville Peter Thompson, Karl Graham and the late Leonard Lothian.
Brilliant and inspiring teachers such as:
Mr. Bair (Geography – 1st form: “The word is shrimp, NOT swimp!”)
Mr. Keith Bryan (Bible Knowledge – 1st & 2nd forms: aka Silas Mariner & Mr. B)
Ms. Serrant (General Science – 1st form: “Boys, if you work hard, the sky is the limit!”)
Mr. Pullen (History – 1st form: Red-headed, freckled-face, soft-spoken, yet highly respected, Mr. History)
Ms. J. Reid (English Language & Literature: 3rd -5th forms: The wordsmith who made written and spoken Standard English “come alive”. She also made the writings and plays of the Bard, Chaucer and Harper Lee comprehensible and attractive!)
Rev. Weevil Gordon (Dr. Peter-John Gordon’s father- Bible Knowledge: 3rd form: he made sense of the Prophet, Priest and King and the Acts of the Apostles)
Mr. Ivan (Wally) Johnson (General Paper- 6B: Mr. “Supercool” who was the maestro of prose and poetry)
Mr. Bramwell (Mathematics – 3rd & 4th forms: The man who took the complication out of math and made it a joyful experience!)
Mr. John Burrowes (Add. Math and A-level Math – 5th & 6th forms: The calculus genius with “chalk-talk”.)
Mr. Joe Earle (Chemistry – 6th form: Master chemist)
Mr. Ashby (Physics – 6th form: “Gentlemen, you need to convert your potential energy into work!”).
Member of the KC Cadet Corp which won the Ruel Vaz Trophy in 1970-71
Captain of form quiz team (3rd and 4th forms)
Form headboy (3rd -5th forms)
Form Goalkeeper (3rd -5th forms)
After leaving 6th form in June 1975, I attended UWI (Mona) for a year before migrating to the USA where I completed a Bachelor degree in electrical engineering at City College of New York, City University of New York with Tony Holung (who went on to work for General Electric in upstate New York) and Audley (Fern) Patterson (currently with Motorola in Florida). I worked as an electrical engineer for over 10 years with Northeast Utilities (Connecticut), Potomac Electric Power Company (Washington, D.C.) and Potomac Laser, Inc. (Maryland) after which I managed my wife’s medical practice in Maryland while completing a graduate degree at George Washington University in Washington, DC (Sandra, my wife, was born in Westmoreland and went back to her roots in Jamaica in 1984 to do a medical clerkship under Professor Brendan Bain at UWI, Mona).
Being so richly blessed by the Almighty, Sandra and I decided to “give back” (in the spirit of Bishop Gibson and Douglas Forrest) to our motherland and others in a more tangible way. With our three pre-teen children, we returned to Jamaica in 1998. I taught mathematics, computer and electrical engineering courses at West Indies College/Northern Caribbean University (Mandeville) while Sandra worked for the Ministry of Health helping to establish a medical wellness/preventative program in Jamaica (sponsored and funded by the Japanese government).
We returned to the States in 2005 to facilitate college studies for our children and to pursue further studies ourselves. Currently I am working at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as a patent examiner (in computer/network engineering) with plans to return to Jamaica to continue the “giving back” (God’s willing).
Though brief (seven years), our stay “a Yard” was uplifting and spiritually rewarding. We were able to touch (and hopefully bless) many lives and gained many new friends and enriching experiences. Our sojourn in the “land of wood and water” was also very edifying and enriching for our children who learned to relate to people from all socioeconomic backgrounds as opposed to their sheltered and affluent experience in the States. Although my two boys did not have the privilege to attend their father’s famous “college” on North Street (they attended Manchester High School), my daughter did the “next best thing”: she attended Bishop Gibson High School for Girls (founded by KC founding headmaster the late Bishop Gibson in 1962) where she flourished as a true “purple”!
Sandra and I were honored to contribute in a small way to the development of Jamaica, “land we love”. I was honored to have the opportunity and privilege to influence many young lives at Northern Caribbean University where I became an Assistant Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Mathematics and Engineering. In addition, I had the honor of sitting on the Board of Engineering Studies of the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) with representatives from UTech, UWI (St. Augustine) and prominent professional engineers representing the private and public sectors in Jamaica.
