The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemeda.net

STAFFORD Armbrister said there was never a time that ‘King’ Eric Gibson didn’t lead a race in a sailing competition that they bet that he would end up finding a way to lose it. Sure enough at the end of the race, Gibson didn’t disappoint them by losing.

On Saturday, the Mars Bay, Acklins native finally won the last race that he sailed in - this time on land - as his mortal body was carried in his coffin on one of his prized boats - Queen Drucilla - from Bahamas Faith Ministries on Carmichael Road to the Western Cemetery on Baillou Hill Road.

Gibson was hoisted high as he was paraded to his final resting place after his 79 years on earth came to an end. It was a life that many will remember for the role he played as a father to his children and grandchildren, a father-figure to the sailing and golfing community and as a major contributor to the development of music as one of the top musicians that the country has ever seen.

Although he came from humble beginnings as a 13-year-old boy with just a high school education at the Snug Corner All Age School, Gibson went on to mesmerise many as he used his “mother’s wits” to become a prominent entertainer with his King and Knights band and club as well as establishing the first recording studio in the country.

As an avid golfer, Gibson was probably one of the first to have represented the Bahamas on a national team with his son, Shane Gibson - the Member of Parliament for Golden Gates and the Minister of National Insurance - as they played together in the Caribbean Amateur Golf Championships.

Sailing, however, was what Gibson really distinguished himself throughout his life. He was not just a sailor, but a boat builder and an organiser, having headed the Bahamas Boat Owners and Sailors Association as a commodore and even after his tenure, he continued to assist just about every regatta financially.

So it was only a fitting tribute that after all of the accolades were bestowed upon him in a memorial service on Thursday night at Loyola Hall and again at his funeral service on the historic Majority Rule Day, that the country paid its last respects with one last ride on Queen Drucilla through the streets of Nassau.

A processional along Baillou Hill Road to the grave site was led by the Church of God of Prophecy Marching Band and ended up with a junkanoo rush-out by the Colours Junkanoo Group.

The Rev Dr Lloyd Smith, a long-time confidant and friend, who officiated the ceremony at BFM, said he will remember his parishioner at Mt Hored Baptist Church for his unselfish assistance over the years.

“He was a very big man with a big heart,” Smith said. “He helped everybody, but he was a fellow who would argue with you until the end. But when the argument was over, it was all about bringing peace to the event.”

As his former vice commodore and treasurer for five years each, Smith said he remembered when he began his transformation to the pupil that Gibson was there to support him by presenting him with 87 chairs to help get his ministry started.

“Over the last year of his life, I prepared him for death. He knew the Lord,” Smith stated. “That’s what is important. But he was a big man and a family man who helped everybody. You go to Eric and he would help.”

Persons from all walks of life came to pay their last respect, led by Prime Minister Perry Christie, who admonished his family to find somebody or some people to “write the King Eric story” because it’s one that has to be told and told the way that only they know how.

A number of tributes were offered on his behalf, led by another entertaining legend, Jay Mitchell, to his grandchildren, who spoke and performed on behalf of their parents, aunts and uncles and his brothers, sisters and in-laws.

In addition to Christie, V Alfred Gray, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries and Member of Parliament for Acklins, Magistrate Carolyn Vougt-Evans, Armbrister, Pastor Cherry Missick, Bishop Franklyn Ferguson, Dr Myles Munroe and Rev Dr William Thompson all offered their condolences.

Quoting from one of the books written by Munroe, the president of BFM, Missick, who represented Trinity Global Cathedral, said one of the greatest things a man could want to is die with his life empty and that is how Gibson should be remembered for all that he did for the Bahamas.

Over the years, he also developed some close friendships, including that of Canadian fashion designer Peter Nygard, who developed a special bond over the 45 years that they were associated with each other.

“I lost a brother. He was the one who welcomed me to the Bahamas. He was really an ambassador for the heart and soul of the Bahamian people,” Nygard said. “I always said that the Bahamas was much more than the sun, sand and water. It was all about the people, people like King Eric.”

Gerard Moxey, one of the young men whom Gibson was grooming to take over from him in organising regattas, said they developed a father-son relationship that he will cherish for the rest of his life.

“Eric was the type of person who had so many ideas and so much good things to do and he wanted to see it go on so he tried his best to instil some of those things in me because I guess he saw my potential,” he said. “It was very pleasing to me when he had his last race in November for him to come out and say Gerard, I want you to do this and run the race and be in control and move sailing forward.”

Through the music industry when they first met in the 1960s, Gibson was able to create an atmosphere with legendary Jim Duncombe that transcended to the golf course.

“We had a long relations that people didn’t even know about,” Duncombe said. “Right now this is so very hard to see this because me and King go back a very long, long way. Maybe one day, I will sit down and really tell this story because I think I have a lot more to say about King Eric. I don’t think there’s anybody who knew him like I did.”

Over the years, King also had some differences with the Rev Dr Philip McPhee. But despite that, there was no one who stuck closer, working together with Gibson, than McPhee.

“King has done much and has given much and I pray that everybody is happy now,” McPhee stated. “But certainly some aspects that have happened have caused us to take a new look at ourselves because when death comes, we don’t know what changes will take place when we die.

“So it’s important that we put our house in order because today we live and tomorrow we die. There is no surety of what will happen after death. So my advice to every man, especially if you’re a husband, is to make sure that your house is in order because dead man don’t speak.”

McPhee expressed his delight in his friendship and he prays that the Gibson family will now move forward in keeping Gibson’s memory alive. May his soul rest in peace.