Memories of Noor Hassanali

What stands out in my memory about the late president, then a High Court Judge, was his patience and serenity as he stood a little aside of us parents, waiting to drive his wife home, once Brown Owl dismissed the pack. Justice Hassanali always smiled, a warm smile which embraced the Brownies and us parents as well.

He didn’t have to know who you were. And unlike most husbands, never looked impatient that he was being made to stand and wait, after in retrospect what must have been a gruelling day in court.

The Brownies were always warmly welcomed to the Hassanali’s Federation Park home where Brown Owl prepared the six to ten-year-olds for their badges, and at times did the actual testing.

Justice Hassanali remained the same person after his inauguration as President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, always with a quiet sense of humour, such as, when with a twinkle in his eyes he would tell me, “I do not speak to reporters” or tell others jokingly, “You have to be very careful speaking to her, she is a journalist.”

Yet he unhesitatingly agreed to an interview after his election to the presidency, at his Sydenham Avenue residence. Not for one moment did I feel uncomfortable with the president’s change of status — the president was just as down-to-earth and easily interviewed.

At the President’s House in St Ann’s, everything was always very efficiently organised by Mrs Hassanali who with her husband never lost the common touch when entertaining from Princes to the Dormers of her alma mater, Naparima Girls’ High School.

The first lady found time to economise for the State spending a lot of time supervising the growth of a beautiful flower garden, a flourishing vegetable garden, and the trees which produced a large variety of fruit for the strictly non-alcoholic juices served at all official functions. Alcohol was a no-no during President Hassanali’s terms of office and no one ever complained.

A very short while after the birth of my first granddaughter, whose mother had been one of Brown Owl’s brownies, Mrs Hassanali invited me to bring the baby to President’s House as she said, “The children grow so fast that I would prefer not to wait until she was grown to see her for the first time.” An appointment was formally made through the secretary and we were royally ushered into the private sitting room where she presented Lindsay with a beautiful gift. That was the thoughtfulness of the President and First Lady of that period.

After the Hassanalis left the residence, I was forced to make a comparison when guests arriving at the residence for an official function were left to their own devices at the entrance to the porch as there was no one appointed to meet and greet them. This would never ever have happened with Zalayhar Hassanali and the President’s staff.

What many people may or may not know is that during President Hassanali’s time in office, whenever it came to his attention that a couple celebrated a golden anniversary, he would send them a congratulatory letter.

Noor Hassanali loved and believed in the family, first and foremost, and just a couple weeks before his passing, his wife said to me that he was very happy to have all of his children and grandchildren, some of whom were visiting from England, around him. His other passion was sport and amazingly he never forgot the older sportsmen of this country.