One of the leading Vincentian cultural and educational organizations in the United States has bestowed Father’s Day honor on four outstanding nationals.
The Brooklyn-based Club St. Vincent, Inc., also one of the older Vincentian groups in the U.S., conferred the awards on Father’s Day, last Sunday, on Auton “Frankie” George, Crispin Friday, Colin Liverpool and Grafton “Breen” Greaves, at a gala ceremony at the Friends of Crown Heights Educational Center in Brooklyn.
George, an accountant and economist, and Greaves, a retired New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation (HHC) environmental supervisor, are among the founding “fathers” of Club St. Vincent, Inc., an organization that has “done so much in the lives of children through our educational programs,” according to Ancilla Friday, the group’s president and wife of Mr. Friday.
She also said Liverpool, a Brooklyn-based lawyer, “has worked for several years with the youths of Mas Production Unlimited (the oldest Vincentian mas band in the United States) and continues to touch their lives.”
In addition, Mrs. Friday said her husband, a civil engineer, “has nurtured and mentored the youths of St. Paul’s (Episcopal) Church, Flatbush in several ways for a very long time.”
The honorees thanked Club St. Vincent, Inc. for the special recognition and also expressed gratitude to their respective families, friends and supporters for unconditional love and support over the years.
Greaves said in jest and to loud laughter in referring to the honor: “It finally happens after all these years.”
George said he had “honed” his primary and secondary education at the Kingstown Methodist and Boys Grammar schools, respectively, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
After graduating from the Boys Grammar School with a Grade 2 General Certificate of Education Advanced Level Certificate from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom in 1966, George received a Commonwealth Scholarship to study economics at Arcadia University in Newfoundland, Canada, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in that discipline four years later.
In the same year as his graduation, he received a teaching fellowship at York University in Toronto, Canada to pursue a master’s degree in economics.
While pursuing graduate studies, George married registered nurse Edna McDonald, of Belair, then returned to St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1971 after graduation.
George taught advanced level economics, for three years, to Form 6 students at his alma mater, then was seconded to the quasi-public Development Corporation (DEVCO), where he collaborated with current Opposition leader, Arnhim Eustace, and now head of Public Properties, Halley “Bucky” Dougan.
George was also an avid sportsman and carnival lover, playing cricket and soccer (football) with the Eagles Sports Club, and mas with the Bridge Boys’ Club, of which he was a member.
