ON OCTOBER 24, St Clair “Sonny” Harper passed from this vale of tears at the grand old age of 96.
Harper was well known as one of the premier funeral directors in Barbados, being the proprietor and funeral director of Paramount Funeral Home and Taxi Service in Upper Hindsbury Road, St Michael.
He was, however, a very keen and knowledgeable cricket fan and a long-standing life member of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA). He was a regular visitor at Kensington Oval, especially at international matches, once his business allowed.
Paramount was for almost 40 years the transport provider of choice of the BCA, whether it was for the Combined Schools teams, the Barbados teams, visiting regional teams or the West Indies and other international teams.
In Harper’s books, the needs of the cricket teams were paramount to any other requirements, and he was always willing to facilitate the at times unscheduled calls for assistance. On more than one occasion his reliability and dependability spared blushes on the faces of the cricket authorities, both local and regional.
As one of the premier business partners of the BCA, he was requested to sponsor the Barbados Under-19 team when Barbados hosted the West Indies Nortel Networks Under-19 Championship in 1999 and readily accepted. One of the BCA’s board members, however, suggested that it would be ludicrous to have a funeral home associated with the Barbados youth team and the offer was subsequently rejected.
It was indeed ironic that one of the other regional teams which participated in the tournament was sponsored by a similar establishment.
When the fortunes of the BCA’s Instant Money Game began to wane, the BCA started to undergo some strenuous financial challenges and the coffers were not as liquid as in previous years. This at times resulted in the BCA experiencing some difficulty in meeting its financial obligations to its business associates, including Paramount, but Harper continued to provide the same level of service to the association as he did in times of plenty, patiently waiting for his turn in the queue.
He never wavered in his belief that “a better day will come”.
St Clair “Sonny” Harper was a good man and although he is gone, he will not be forgotten.
– ROLLINS HOWARD
