CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – THE mortal remains of Nevis’ first Premier, Dr. Simeon ‘Sim’ Daniel, were laid to rest with full Military Honours yesterday (June 5) in the yard of the four-century-old St. Thomas' Anglican Church on that island.
Prior to internment and shortly after seven o’clock yesterday morning, Dr. Daniel’s family members, including his wife Shelia, sons, daughters and grand children, and Nevis’ Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry as well as Cabinet Members of the Nevis Island Administration had viewed his body as it lay in state at the Charlestown High Court.
Many members of the public had also turned out to view the body of the man whom they had referred to as “The Father of Modern Nevis”.
Later in the afternoon, a moving Homegoing Service was held a packed St. Thomas’ Anglican Church, which was presided by Canon Alston Percival, the Reverend Ernest Fleming and father Alric Francis.
The eulogy was delivered by Victor Jay Martin, a former member of the Dr. Daniel-led Nevis Reformation Party Administration, while the Old Testament was read by Dr. Daniel’s grandson Jevorn Farrell and the New Testament by his granddaughter Deonecia Daniel.
Tributes were paid to The Father of Modern Nevis by Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Sam Condor, Nevis’ Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry, the Hon. Mark Brantley, and his grandsons Tyler Clarke and Kajay Hodge.
In his tribute, Condor said Dr. Daniel had traversed this life with a gentle and loving spirit, and that from all accounts he wanted in the simplest and most visceral terms a more generous and equitable State of St. Kitts and Nevis.
“In fact,” he added, “one might say that his life became a sort of manifesto for Social Democracy.”
He reminded the congregation about the time when Dr. Daniel agitated for secession for Nevis, noting that it could be viewed as his response to his perception that his concept of generosity was not forthcoming, which few people in St. Kitts had agreed with the notion of the fragmentation of the State.
“When as Leader of Nevis, Dr. Daniel walked the corridors of power. I worked at the Government Printery in St. Kitts, which was adjacent to the House of Parliament. Such was the fame of the man that everyone in every nook and cranny in St. Kitts knew of this indomitable and indefatigable personality, the Nevisian Simeon Daniel. And when, some years later, his party, the NRP, joined with the People’s Action Movement to form a coalition government to replace the Labour government, the political landscape of the Federation was forever changed,” Condor reminisced.
He noted that as Premier of Nevis, Dr. Daniel fought a relentless campaign to modernise the island, as many looked on in admiration at the unfolding of his deep love and passion for the growth and development of the land of his birth.
“It was then that most of us understood that the long crusade against St. Kitts domination was not for his own political aggrandisement, but for the good of his beloved Nevis and the welfare of his fellow Nevisians. There is no doubt, whatsoever, that Simeon Daniel is the father of the modern Nevis. This has been affirmed by both admirers and detractors. I join in that affirmation.”
The Deputy Prime Minister stated that his first personal interaction with Dr. Daniel was in March 1979 while he was a student at Oxford.
“He was in England, as part of a delegation engaging the British Government in preliminary talks for the Independence of St. Kitts-Nevis. Along with two other Nevisians living in Oxford, he visited Ruskin College and engaged a number of students including three Caribbean students, two Barbadians and a Trinidadian and myself on the political, social and economic development of Nevis.”
He also stated that his second encounter with Dr. Daniel was also in England in 1982, but that time it was during his attendance at the Lancaster House Independence Talks where he agitated intensely for Nevisians’ rights.
Condor emphasised that the late Dr. Simeon Daniel must be considered one of the main architects and framers of the Federation’s Constitution, and that it is his view that when the contemporary political and constitutional history of St. Kitts-Nevis is written, the name Dr. Simeon Daniel would be indelible etched on those pages.
Brantley, in his tribute, noted that Dr. Daniel was like a father to him and that he had lived unselfishly and passionately in the service of his fellow man and the island of Nevis.
He confessed that he had struggled within himself to find the adequate words or phase that could capture what Dr. Daniel meant to him and many others. He however declared that he found them (words) in First Corinthians Chapter 13 and verse Verse 13, which states, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
Brantley explained that charity, as used in the scripture, means love and it best sums up the life and times of Dr. Simeon Daniel who loved his family, his people and his God.
“It is love that caused this man from humble origins in Barnes Ghaut to give his life in the service of others. It is love that caused him to fight against the might of Bradshaw in St. Kitts for the people of Nevis. It is love that caused him to constantly seek to find a better way for the people of Nevis.
“Sixth Form College; NHLDC and the distribution of land to the landless; Bank of Nevis; Four Seasons; Mount Nevis Hotel; Nevis Island Assembly; Nevis Island Administration; Independence for St. Kitts and Nevis; Clause 113 of our Constitution; Nevis’ Offshore Sector; Improvements in water and electricity; University degrees for our teachers; Scholarships for our children. These initiatives in and out of Government were motivated by the love of others not of self. And for his love, Dr. Daniel asked for nothing in return. He shunned public adulation preferring often to work from behind the scenes. He helped many. Some remember. Some choose to forget,” Brantley said.
Brantley placed Dr. Daniel in the same category as the biblical Moses.
“We know not when again we shall see such a man walk the streets of Nevis. We know not whether such a man will ever be sent by God again to lead and inspire us. But if such a man never again comes to us, let all of Nevis remember that as the Israelites had their Moses, Nevisians have had their Simeon Daniel. He has been to the mountaintop of Barnes Ghaut and has come back not with 10 commandments but with two: ‘Thou shalt love each other’; and ‘Thou shalt love Nevis’”.
At the burial site, upon which were also the Governor General, His Excellency Sir Cuthbert Sebastian, and Ministers of the Federal Government and the Nevis Island Administration, the National Flag which had draped Dr. Daniel’s wooden casket was removed and presented to his wife by Premier Parry.
This was followed by the Firing Party from a contingent of the Defence and Police Forces that gave the first Premier of Nevis and the Federation’s first Minister of Finance since Independence a five-volley gun salute as his mortal remains were interred.
The mournful Last Post and the Reveille were sounded, followed by the Defence Force’s Drum Corps and Military Band playing the Evening Hymn.
