McClean to be cremated Wednesday

FORMER Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hector McClean, will be cremated on Wednesday after a service at the Trinity Cathedral on Hart Street, Port-of-Spain. McClean’s son, Bernard, told Newsday yesterday his father would be given an “official” funeral, “in as much as he served his country.” He said the only assistance being provided to the family by government was “assistance in having a protocol officer present to attend to the dignitaries.” As for financial assistance, he said, “nothing of the sort has been communicated to me.”

Bernard said a funeral service will be held at 10 am at the Trinity Cathedral followed by a private cremation at the Port-of-Spain cinerary. Politicians and attorneys are expected to attend, as well as officials of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), where McClean served as deputy secretary general for several years. McClean died on Thursday morning at the Intensive Care Unit of the St Clair Medical Centre, where he had been warded for more than a week. McClean was warded at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex at Mt Hope last month with pneumonia.