Claudine Housen, Staff Reporter
Professor the Hon. Kenneth Hall (principal, UWI). - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
WESTERN BUREAU:
"HIS PARENTS would have been proud," that was what Mr. Nathan Hall, uncle to Governor-General designate, Professor Kenneth Hall, had to say when the Sunday Gleaner visited his home in Hanover on Tuesday.
A son of Claremont district in Hanover, Professor Hall was named the fifth Governor-General of Jamaica by Prime Minister P.J. Patterson at King's House last Monday. He will be sworn in on February 15.
Noting that Professor Hall's mother Beatrice died in 1955 and his father Harry Hall passed on later at a ripe age of 79, Mr. Hall said that there was no doubt in his mind that Professor Hall's parents would have been proud.
One of the last two relatives from his father's family tree, Mr. Hall also added that he was pleased of Professor Hall's, affectionately called 'Ken', appointment.
A GREAT MAN
"I feel pleased with him and his achievements," he said. "There is a saying that heights of great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companion slept were toiling upwards through the night that is Ken."
Professor Hall's aunt, 76-year-old, Thermutis Hall, also shared in the excitement, noting that when his mother was alive she used to help to baby-sit the
professor and his siblings.
"I washed, iron and cooked for them, because we lived near, practically in the same yard," she said. "If his mother went out I stopped from school and looked after them."
"I am happy for him. He has never let us down, and he comes to visit us all the time. He was even here the week before Christmas," she continued. "I feel that he is capable to handle that work. He is intelligent and witty and knows how and when to talk. I feel happy, plenty people feel happy too some of his old school mates phoned me and congratulated me. It was nice of them. We are very proud."
WHERE HE WAS EDUCATED
Prof. The Hon. Dr. Kenneth Hall, O.J., noted historian and principal of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (U.W.I.), was educated at Rusea's High School in the parish of his birth, and later at the University of the West Indies, Mona; Institute of Internal Relations, University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago and Queen's University, Ontario, Canada.
He returned to Rusea's to teach between 1961-63, beginning a distinguished career which has kept him close to the seat of learning most of his adult life. Later he spent some years as administrative officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, before becoming an instructor in the History Department at Queen's University, Ontario, Canada 1969-71. He was later named Assistant Professor of History, State University of New York at Oswego, Canada 1971-73. He held a number of senior academic positions for several years in the United States and in other parts of the region before
being named Deputy Secretary-General, Caribbean Community Secretariat 1994-96.
Professor Hall's thoughts, research and ideas are permanently etched in major publications, gracing bookshelves across the world.
A wide cross-section of Hanover's business community expressed joy at the announcement of the new Governor-General. However, chairman of the Hanover Chamber of Commerce, Anthony Marks in celebrating Professor Hall's appointment, took the opportunity to point to other notable statesmen who have called Hanover, home.
"We are really elated at the fact that we have in our storehouse a National Hero (Sir Alexander Bustamante) and two Prime Ministers (Prime Minister PJ Patterson and Sir Alexander Bustamente)," he said. "We are now adding a Governor-General. This speaks volumes of the parish and what it is capable of."
