‘Teddy Bear’ made us a family

ARNIM SMITH’S most enduring legacy was the ability to unite children from four different mothers into a single family. This was the tearful recollection of Shayna Smith during a funeral service for her “teddy bear” father at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya yesterday. “He brought a closeness between us that most people could not do, with four different children from four different mothers. We are not half brothers or half sisters. We are a family,” she declared. Her sister Keitha agreed: “We lost our best friend, our mentor, our comforter, our big teddy bear. Our father had many loves but the most important one was his children.”

Keitha recalled how she “grew up at a time when my father was still in the ghetto,” often sleeping “on tables and chairs” when she accompanied him to Pan Trinbago meetings. Keitha said she and sister Shayna were “extremely blessed” that Smith lived to see them graduate from university. Baby sister Thais said: “I will remember my father as my teddy bear. He would always tell me how his day was.” Son Sterling was too broken up to express his feelings but managed to say: “We miss you dad and we love you.” The Smith children’s love for their father was self-evident as Keitha and Shayna lovingly caressed his hair and shoulders as mourners filed past his casket to pay their last respects while Sterling and Thais looked on with tear-filled eyes. The quartet then walked hand-in-hand ahead of their father’s casket as it was borne by UNC members and Laventille residents.

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday said the late UNC senator was very concerned about increasing polarisation within the society and issued a warning to his parliamentary colleagues one week before his death. “He cautioned them that in carrying the struggle against discrimination and marginalisation, they must take care not to alienate even inadvertently, their brothers and sisters of the corridor because they too were marginalised.

He reminded them that there were many citizens in the East-West corridor who were living under oppressive conditions. Senate President, Dr Linda Baboolal, hailed Smith as “a man of steel” who “spoke from his heart for the grassroots.” She said while another senator would take Smith’s seat in the Upper House, that person “would not take his place.” UNC activist Dorothy Cummings pleaded with God “to make a place in heaven for Mr Arnim,” while Pan Trinbago president Patrick Arnold announced that the winner of the 2004 Panorama conventional steelband will receive the Arnim Smith Memorial Challenge Trophy. Pastor Clive Dottin predicted that “time is running out” for kidnappers and assassins in Trinidad and Tobago “because God will tell us when to strike.” He said Smith wanted unity among the nation’s politicians and all citizens. “Let the lion and the lamb lie down together and there shall be peace in the valley,” Dottin declared. The service proceeded under the watchful eyes of heavily-armed police officers. among the mourners were a large number of Government, Opposition and Independent parliamentarians. Other notable personalities included former Appeal Court Justice Anthony Lucky, NCC chairman Kenny Da Silva and MPATT president Dr Colin Furlonge.

Arnim takes last ride j’ouvert style

FORMER pan boss and senator Arnim Smith yesterday took his last ride through the streets of Port-of-Spain in J’Ouvert style. Chipping to the sounds of Freelancers Pan Grove Steel Orchestra playing “How Great Thou Art,” mourners journeyed from Duncan Street, where Smith ran a boxing gym, to the St Paul Street Gymnasium where he engaged in similar activities. Mourners then proceeded to the Tokyo Steel Orchestra panyard, where he was manager up until Carnival 2003. The band then played “You are my Hero,” before Smith took his final ride to the Marvin Lee Stadium in Tunapuna and interment at the Tunapuna Public Cemetery.

Many of the senator’s friends and members of the pan fraternity,  including Felix “Baldy” Hernandez, John Noel and members of  “A Team Security,” which Smith formed for the 2002 general elections, accompanied the body all the way from Clarke and Battoo Funeral Agency on Tragarete Road, Port-of-Spain. The chaos created by persons wanting to see the body kept security busy during the public viewing  at Tokyo Panyard from 11 am to 2 pm. An armed squad of police officers looked on. Besides his son, daughters, and wife who openly wept at the coffin, Senator Sadiq Baksh expressed regret that a man who was certainly going higher was taken away so soon.

The former Housing minister explained “Arnim had already passed two stages in life and had now entered his third. “He started as a representitve of the poor man, then the pan fraternity and was getting into his own in the politics both in Parliament and the UNC. He will surely be missed.” This view supported by his childhood friend John Noel and president of Pan Trinbago Patrick Arnold.