January 03, 2008
www.guardian.co.tt
CULTURAL aficionado and writer Terry Joseph has died.
Joseph, 60, who had been battling with prostate cancer for the past year, passed away around 7 pm yesterday at Douglasville in Georgia, at his wife’s home.
Joseph, a father of one, served as a cultural, political and football adviser to Fifa vice-president Jack Warner.
In a telephone interview last night, a saddened Warner expressed shock at Joseph’s sudden passing.
“This has come as a shock to me because Terry never showed signs of giving up…He always had the will to live,†he said.
“I thought he could have struggled, but he gave up.â€
Warner said he had accompanied Joseph to Korea recently for treatment, which lasted a month.
Two weeks ago, Warner said, Joseph returned to America, where his wife Laini Gilliam-Joseph lives.
Laini is a gynaecologist.
“He went back to America for additional treatment with the hope of getting better, because he was fighting for the past year,†Warner said.
He said Joseph deserved a grand send-off because he was known and loved by many.
“Whatever has to be done will be done,†Warner added.
Warner described Joseph as well loved.
Joseph spent his last days happy and in the company of family and friends, says his wife.
She said he knew he was going to die, and that’s why—despite feeling unwell—he insisted on travelling to the United States to be with her.
“It was our first Christmas in our new home in Douglasville, Georgia,†she said.
“We had Christmas dinner…it was nice and relaxing. We spent the day with family.
Gilliam-Joseph said her husband was scheduled to return to Trinidad tomorrow, but when she realised his condition had worsened she rescheduled his flight for next Friday.
In his final hours, she said, her husband mumbled a lot. He never complained of pains.
“I prayed with him. He did not want anyone in Trinidad to see his weaknesses. That’s why he came,†Gilliam-Joseph said.
She said Joseph had chemotherapy two weeks ago and “it was killing him.â€
Joseph’s wife said she had noticed signs of his illness two years ago, during a social call at Warner’s house.
www.guardian.co.tt/archives/2008-01-03/news14.html
trinidadexpress.com
January 04, 2008
Members of the media and the cultural fraternity poured out their heartfelt support to the family of cultural aficionado and writer Terry Joseph yesterday.
The 60-year-old, who had been battling with prostate cancer for the past year, passed away around 7 p.m. Wednesday at his wife Laini Gilliam-Joseph’s home in Douglasville, Georgia, USA.
Full Article : trinidadexpress.com
I have lost a very dear friend, apart from being a friend we also carried the same birth date. Gone but not forgotten
Terry Joseph was a great friend, a boon companion and a fellow lover of calypso and the cultural wonders of Trinidad. And he himself was a cultural icon. No one, and I mean no one, could write — or talk — about calypso like Terry Joseph. And about football and pan. And I loved to listen to him, that big deep brown gravelly voice of his, and that wicked sense of humour and his biting sarcasm and profound insights. I spent many a night with him, in the tents, in the panyards, at Mas Camp,just listening and laughing. And then I would wake up in the morning and read his wonderful and insightful words in print. We were both writers, and we both earned our keep with the written word, and he enjoyed talking about the craft, about finding one’s voice, and keeping it, and filling a void on the page. And we both had cancer. Yeah. We talked about that when we were last together, too, about chemo and radiation, about coming face to face with our mortality, and about the blows of that particular battle. And he fought it his way, which is the only way one can fight, truly, and he was a warrior until the end. He had the love of his wife, Laini, and he had his love of de culture, and that was enough for him, and it was everything. Some day, somewhere, we shall share another bottle of Johnnie Walker Black, and lift a toast to the calypso gods. Trinidad — and Carnival — will never be the same without him.
Geoffrey Dunn
Co-producer/Director
Calypso Dreams
Cultural send-off for TJ
Thursday, January 10 2008
The body of former entertainment journalist, turned cultural and political advisor, Terry Joseph, is expected back in Trinidad today for a funeral celebration that will take place tomorrow at the Marvin Lee Stadium in Macoya.
From 1 pm there will be a public viewing of the body, and one hour later there will be a “non- religious send-off.â€
That programme will begin with a tribute to Joseph by his long-time friend, veteran journalist Keith Smith, followed by blessings and an inspirational statement by Fr Clyde Harvey.
Patrick Arnold, Renwick Brown and Michael Leggerton will pay their respects on behalf of the pan, mas and calypso fraternities respectively.
Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs, Junior Regrello is also expected to speak.
Tributes will also be paid by representatives from Rabs Immortelle and The Harvard Club, before the man who Joseph last worked with, FIFA vice president and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner makes his contribution.
They will also be performances by the Laventille Rhythm Section, Sagicor Exodus, the Black Stalin, Brother Resistance, a soloist from the Lydian Singers, Lord Superior backed by Roy Cape All Stars.
The body will then leave the Marvin Lee Stadium at 4.15 pm for a private cremation.
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,71151.html