Simon was a 'proud Tobagonian'

KINNESHA GEORGE

DESCRIBED as a gi­ant among men, a pil­lar in the me­dia fra­ter­ni­ty and a friend to many, Simon Langton Parkinson-Smith was on Monday re­mem­bered by his son as “a proud Tobagonian”.

Parkinson-Smith, a vet­er­an jour­nal­ist and former head of news and presenter at Radio Tambrin’s 92.7FM, died on October 23 at 72.

His fu­ner­al at the Church of the St Andrew’s Anglican Church in Scarborough was at­tend­ed by several members of the media including managing director of Radio Tambrin George Leacock and his wife Carol; managing director of Kariwak Village and Holistic Haven, Allan Clovis; Tobago Information Communication Network's (TICN) Anthony Hector; Guardian reporter Casandra Thompson Forbes; Tobago Channel 5’s Rionne Makoul; and Radio Tambrin's Gail Thomas and BettyAnn Biggart.

Jake Parkinson-Smith, Simon's only child, delivered the eulogy and de­scribed his father as an intellect who loved the island.

"Daddy was indeed a great mind...(and) lovable character, mischievous with a warm heart.

"My father lived in Tobago the majority of his life. He was very proud to be a Tobagonian, and loved this island, which, obviously, became his home.

"As his son and on behalf of his family, I would like to thank his Radio Tambrin family and all the unions for welcoming him with open arms and looking after him and giving him so much love and friendship on this beautiful island. A special thank you must be expressed to the amazing people of Moriah who welcomed my family into this island in the early 1960s.”

Parkinson's father Norman, a fashion photographer who was also commissioned by the UK royal family, built a house in Tobago in the 1960s.

In paying tribute, Radio Tambrin's managing director said Parkinson will be greatly missed.

“We would miss a lot if we didn’t understand the outstanding intellect and brain that Simon was. I have been called wrongfully, 'a Mr Know-it-all,' absolutely wrongfully. I am here to tell you, as someone who has at least been accused, that Simon actually knew it all or knew how to find out.

“One of the things that would have me in a permanent state of panic is, if you see me walking around the street and I am talking to myself, is that idea that somebody will go on the air and say something that is absolutely crazy and then we all will be in trouble. For 20 years, we have never been successfully sued and Simon has played an important part in that. He never divulged his sources but even his sources could not convince Simon to put anything out on the air that he was not sure of, that he could not corroborate with another source,” Leacock said.

TICN's Hector said even though Simon worked for a rival network, he respected him tremendously.

“Time evolved, and he was on the beat – the media beat – and what was interesting about being on the beat is that Simon reflected an understanding we had back in those days. The understanding was we were competitors, but we didn’t compete, so we would share information related to the news without worrying about who was going to try to break it first, and time elapsed and a good friendship developed between Simon and myself.”

Archdeacon Phil Isaac, who de­liv­ered the homi­ly, said Parkinson was a “good shep­herd” who gave un­til the end. Isaac urged the congregation to use Simon's life as a shin­ing ex­am­ple to oth­ers. He encouraged jour­nal­ists to up­hold the val­ues he sym­bol­ised.

Parkinson-Smith was buried at the Bacolet Public Cemetery.