my grandpa died on tuesday
I didn't think it would affect me so much but it did
I miss him
he's been practically my dad for so long

so I had to read something in his honour
to let pplz know what his accomplishments were.

Intimations on H McD

My grandpa, Harold McDonald Forde, fondly known as H McD and Doc was born January 10 1916. In his eighty eight years of life, he excelled in every endeavour he attempted, his medicine, sports, the cadet corps, bridge, charity work and family were all a priority in his life, and his influence on myself and the rest of my family has and will continue to be paramount. A maxim he lived by was “nothing but the best”, and he tried in everything he did, to provide the best service he could. These short words barely encompass his life, but each person here should be able to add some aspect to this as I’m sure my grandfather has touched each of your lives in some way or another.
Almost every day, he would tell us some anecdote about some part of his life. Most of them were hilarious, with my grandfather’s quirky sense of humour seeping through.
He and his older sister Lena were the children of William McDonald “Papi” and Gertrude Forde. Their mother died when Grandpa was three and when he remarried, Papi presented them with six siblings: Clifford, Violet, Stella, Majorie, Courtney and Marie.

Grandpa attended St Leonard’s School and then Harrison College. Apparently, the clock tower at Harrison College still bears evidence that H. McD was there, he hit a cricket ball and cracked the glass in the clock tower, and we are not sure if it has been fixed since but it remained there for sometime.
In fact, my grandpa is at this moment wearing his Harrison College tie, his Lions Club pin and in his pocket, his Lord’s cricket ground handkerchief. These symbols of the various affiliations were very dear to him, and he wore them with pride.
Grandpa’s love for literature, the classics and academics, afforded him to sit and win both the island scholarship and the Barbados Scholarship examinations. My Nana told me the story that when he won the Island Scholarship, the prinicipal of Harrison College at the time asked Papi, to allow another student to have the award, and Papi being the forthcoming man that he was, allowed the principal to confer the scholarship on this student, because quite obviously, “young Forde could pass it again.” Which he did! As luck would have it he could only accept one of the scholarships, and he accepted the Barbados Scholarship. In 1936, he journeyed to England to become a doctor at the prestigious University College, London. Grandpa’s love for books and literature and reading was reflected daily as he was always reading something, whether it was his medical journals or doing crosswords, he was always reading.

Grandpa qualified on the January 29 1942. He obtained his certificate from the University of London and was given the highest honour in those days as the young doctor to work with the Dean at the teaching hospital.

Grandpa was a brilliant man, to say the least, and dedicated this brilliance to the field of medicine but, as a practicing doctor and not in the field of research.
My grandfather understood the importance of a healthy patient, as opposed to a healthy bank statement. I remember quite often, many of his patients who were unable to pay him, my grandfather accepting payment in kind. Often threatening patients that if they didn’t take their medicine that they would have to pay for their next appointment.

Having qualified in 1942, Grandpa worked as House Physician for four years at University College Hospital, London. He then worked as Assistant Dermatologist at the Bradford Royal Infirmary in Yorkshire for two years and in general medical practice in Bradford and London for a further two years.

In 1947, he took up a post as Medical Officer and Assistant Medical Officer of Health through the British Colonial Service in Belize, formerly British Honduras. He was there for five years. He was very busy on that tour of duty because it is there he met and married my grandmother, Alice, and my auntie Stella, was born. It was ALSO there, that grandpa acquired a jaguar skin. This is a story he relished. He was working in the jungle region of Belize, traveling mostly in an open back jeep, one night he was traveling home, and he noticed a pair of eyes looking at him from the bushes. Now my grandfather was not a foolish man, and having heard reports of jaguar sightings put two and two together, and didn’t wait around for it to add up. He reached Nana, on three tyres, having blown out one of the tyres because of the speed he was traveling. A few weeks later, a hunter had shot a jaguar skin, and because grandpa was adamant that it was his cat, that had been chasing him home, the skin was given to him by the hunter, and lived with the family for quite some time. In Belize, grandpa had to wear many coats, he was doctor, dentist, coroner, obstetrician and the list goes on.

After Belize, Grandpa then ventured into University teaching for five years as the first lecturer in medicine at the University of the West Indies. By this time there were two children - a boy (my uncle Donny, born in Trinidad) and auntie Stella - and he, the ever patriotic Barbadian that Grandpa was, decided to return to Barbados to serve his country.

From 1957 to 1978, Grandpa was associated with both the Barbados General Hospital and the University of the West Indies, in various positions - both in practice and as a lecturer. In particular, Auntie Stella reminds me that he was Medical Superintendent for the Barbados General Hospital and was on hand throughout the construction of the new hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital. It was during this time, my grandparents had my mother, Ann.

He was the Senior lecturer in medicine and Associate Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of the West Indies, Barbados during the years 1967 to 1978. He was also a member of Senate of the University of the West Indies during 1973 to 1975.
He was awarded the Jubilee Medal by the Queen in 1977.
In 1978, Grandpa and Nana traveled to The Bahamas. He went there to take up the position as Chief Medical Officer to the Bahamian Government. He was also the Technical Expert for the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC) during that year.

Grandpa returned in 1980 and was Consultant Physician to the Geriatric Hospital in Barbados. He held that post for four years. He had also started private practice in 1975 and this he continued upon his return to Barbados.

He served the Government of Barbados in other medical capacities as a member of various committees and was appointed a Member of the Privy Council for five years beginning in 1980.

In 1984, he was invited by the then Prime Minister, J M.G.M. "Tom" Adams to be Barbados' High Commissioner to the Court of St. James and ambassador to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and The Vatican. Although we know that medicine is Grandpa's life blood, to be of service to his country, in this capacity, held a special and important place in Grandpa's heart. My grandfather was a distinguished, honourable man, of quiet resilience. With a personality that resonated without him even saying a word. And to be able to serve his country in such a way really made my grandpa very proud and honoured.

I am so proud of my grandfather’s accomplishments, that he did with such ease, and without any attempt of making anyone feel less of themselves. He just WAS…. And anyone who knew him, and I mean really knew him, knew that he was a man of stellar personality, with a foolish foolish sense of humour, always finding some kind of humour in every occasion.
My mother believes that one of the most important things, among many other strong principles she has learnt from him was to help people without expecting any kind of return. He never expected reward for his actions and many people benefited from his generosity.

Sometimes, when I think of Grandpa as a doctor it is unbelievable to imagine that he could have time for other interests, but he did. Grandpa's love for cricket and football started from his own participation in the game. At school, he excelled as captain of both the cricket and football team. He was a member of the Barbados Football Team and represented Barbados as a goalkeeper, his nickname was mosquito, a reference to how quickly he could jump and save the ball. He was also captain of the London University Cricket Team and a member of the United Hospitals Soccer Team, London.
We actually have some pictures of grandpa when he was in his teens, saving a football, I’m not quite sure how the photograph was taken, but clear as day is my grandpa diving and saving the football.

Grandpa’s love for cricket extended to his professional involvement with many of the former Barbadian and West Indian great cricketers. My mother and her siblings grew up around many of the great West Indian cricketers and also many international players from other countries due to grandpa’s care and attention paid to these players. He was an avid supporter of the team and a life member of the BCA. His love for cricket never waned although the failing fortunes of our team caused some distress as it has done over the past to a lot of us.

Grandpa continued his charitable work as a member of Lions International. He joined in 1962 and rose to its highest position (at that time) of District Governor serving the region from Jamaica to Guyana. He has received numerous awards in this organisation and his current club, Lions Club of Barbados South, awarded him the Melvin Jones Fellow award in 1992. This is the highest award given in the name of the founder. He is now a Life Member. Grandpa loved being a Lion, I especially remember him grinning voraciously whenever the Lions had to do their Roar. I hope that you will do my grandpa the honour of performing one final roar for him at the graveside.

In 1994, Barbados in remembrance of my grandfather’s service, he was given the second highest honour, the Companion of Honour. For us, no earthly honour could even begin to pay homage to my grandpa.

My mother, aunt and uncle have been fortunate to have my grandparents as their parents. What more could a child ask for, near perfect role models who instilled excellent morals and ethics.

Grandpa brought us all up on a strict diet of classical and jazz musicians, with a great love for literature and learning. And of course an affinity for sports, cricket, football, tennis, chess, bridge. We acquired our natural talents from my grandmother, but it was my grandpa who insured our foundation with daily doses of the classics. From an early age, we all had a little piece of my grandpa. He was always willing to teach, if you were willing to learn. Always generous with himself and the greatest gift he could give us, his knowledge. One thing I always remember my grandpa saying, if I hazarded to say the word “thought”, he would say, “well you know what thought made a man do?”

Grandpa retired from full time service to the community on January 8, 1998 when he was 82. He was so distraught that he could not help them more, he asked my grandmother, “Who would be there to take care of his patients if he retired?” At last count, from his private practice, he had over 11000 patients, when he retired so many of them called, people stressing that they would not go to any other doctor other than Dr. Forde.
On behalf of my auntie Stella, my mother, Ann, uncle Yair, Maya and Joshua, I would like to sincerely thank all the persons who have assisted my grandmother throughout the latter years of my grandpa’s life, for those who were able to help us, the doctors who did so much for my grandparents, and especially Wilma who is as much a part of the family as I am. I would like to say a heartfelt thank you. The friends who were there when we needed them most, you know who you are; your kindness will never be forgotten. Thank you.