Veteran Caribbean journalist, Nelson A. King, one of Caribbean Life’s senior writers, last Sunday received a host of awards at the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Nurses Association of New York, Inc.’s gala Awards Luncheon at El Caribe Country Club in Mill Basin, Brooklyn.
Besides a special award bestowed on him by the Brooklyn-based Vincentian nursing group, King also received a United States Congressional Proclamation from Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke (D-9th CD); a New York State Proclamation from Assemblyman Nick Perry (D-59th AD); a New York City Proclamation from Dr. Mathieu Eugene (D-40th CD); and a Brooklyn Borough Citation from Borough President Eric Adams.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also dispatched a letter, printed in the souvenir journal, congratulating the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Nurses Association of New York, Inc. and King for his “longstanding commitment to supporting our city’s Caribbean community.”
Registered Nurse Celia Bramble, president of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Nurses Association of New York, Inc. told Caribbean Life that King, “truly exemplifies extraordinary excellence in journalism not only in the Vincentian community in New York but also at home and beyond.
“We have honored other individuals in the past, but there has not been so much input from so many elected officials,” she said. “It speaks for itself. Mr. King has not only reached out to the Vincentian community, but he has crossed boundaries beyond our community.”
Bramble, a retired colonel in the United States Army Reserve, also wrote in the journal: “We are also delighted to pay homage to Mr. Nelson A. King, who exemplifies excellence, integrity and sincerity in the field of journalism.”
St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ United Nations Amb. I. Rhonda King, New York Consul General Selmon Walters and president of the Brooklyn-based umbrella Vincentian group, Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organizations, U.S.A., Inc. (COSAGO), who all attended the ceremony, said King was “very deserving” of the awards.
King said it was with “sheer humility” that he accepted the awards, thanking the nurses for recognizing him for doing what he loves “doing best.”
He also lauded his late parents, Jack and Beryl King, for having “the foresight” to send him to the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Grammar School, one of the leading secondary schools in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where, he said, his “educational foundation was laid.”
In addition, King thanked his wife, Dofflyn, a registered nurse, for her “love and support” over the years, and added that the awards serve as a “great impetus to continue working hard for the people, with God’s blessings.”
The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Nursing Association of New York, Inc. also presented a scholarship award to nursing student, David Robinson, who attends Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers College, City University of New York. The award was personally presented by one of his professors, Judith Lewis, who is also the group’s business manager.
According to the nursing group’s souvenir journal, King, who “possesses a very impressive résumé, is renowned for his journalistic exploits, in which he reports on myriad community activities – from politics, to cultural activities, to health and other affairs, to human interest stories, to sports.”
Considered a pre-eminent, award-winning Caribbean journalist, with over 35 years of experience in the field, the journal notes that King has become “a household fixture in Brooklyn for his objective and prolific reporting for Caribbean Life, the leading Caribbean newspaper in the United States.”
It says that King has been one of Caribbean Life’s more senior writers for more than 20 years – almost as long as the paper’s existence.
It says that King launched his journalism career in the mid-1970s – soon after graduating from the Grammar School – when he was a teenage school teacher.
He worked, sometimes pro bono, for several news and sports programs, radio stations, newspapers, and other media houses locally, regionally and internationally.
These included the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Black London; the Barbados-based, former Caribbean News Agency (CANA); the defunct, popular Radio Antilles in Montserrat; Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio Barbados; Radio St. Lucia; and Radio Free Grenada (during the revolution).
Others were: The Barbados-based Caribbean Contact newspaper; WLIB Radio in New York; “Vibes Caribbean”, WNJR Radio, New Jersey; “The Heart Beat of the Caribbean,” WNWK Radio, New York; Roots, a defunct North Leeward community newspaper in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; the former 705 AM National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Radio (sports) in St. Vincent and the Grenadines; and The Searchlight, The Star and The VINCENTIAN newspapers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
In the past, the journal says that King had written for other New York publications, such as the Daily News’ Carib Beat magazine, Carib News newspaper, and the Queens Chronicle newspaper.
“Despite his deep passion for writing and broadcasting, King was determined since a teenager not to stick to a solo career, mixing a career in journalism with teaching, public health and community activism,” the journal says.
It says that King taught for more than five years at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary school levels in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, spending most of his teaching career in his native land at the Petit Bordel Secondary School, where he specialized in history, geography and Spanish.
In addition, the journal says King possesses over 20 years of public health experience in New York.
According to the journal, King is still very active in the community in New York, serving as an associate member of the Central Brooklyn Lions Club and public relations officer of the Brooklyn-based St. Vincent and the Grenadines Relief Steering Committee of New York.
Additionally, King was vice president, for five years, of the Brooklyn-based Vincentian Christian Charity Organization (VINCO) and member of the Community Board of Directors of the Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation (CNR) in Brooklyn, the journal says.
As a devout Christian, he is a certified lay speaker at Fenimore Street United Methodist Church, also in Brooklyn.
As a veteran of the United States Army, the journal says King attained the rank of sergeant during his four-year active duty stint, working as an aircraft technician in which he specialized in repairing and testing avionic navigation and flight control equipment.
The journal says King is happily married to Dofflyn King. Both are members of Fenimore Street United Methodist Church in Brooklyn.
