The following is a profile of Dr. Errol G. King who was honored by The Council of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Organization USA, Inc (COSAGO, Inc.) on Sunday, October 22, 2000 at the 21st Anniversary of Independence of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The well known saying that charity begins at home may hold the basic philosophy that guides, motivates and inspires Errol G. King, M.D. He is consistently at the forefront of efforts to improve his home, which in this context, Vincentian communities, and individual Vincentians abroad, in addition to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, wherever he may find them. To put his contributions into perspective a look at his background may be relevant.
As a keen student at the Richmond Hill School in Kingstown, EG (as he is known to his friends) won a Kingstown Town Board Scholarship to the Boys Grammar School and started a string of academic accomplishes that, by any standard, could only be considered phenomenal. At the end of the first year, he was promoted by a double skip of forms, one of the rarest accomplishments in the history of the school. Even rarer, was his skip into a senior form at the end of the second year. He obtained the highest grades in the school Certificate and Higher School Certificate examinations (now replaced by GCE "O" and "A" Levels), and emerged winner of the prestigious Island Scholarship beating out many other excellent students. As a student of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Errol King continued his academic achievements; the year, in which he took his second Bachelor of Medicine exams, he received two of three awards.
These academic accomplishments were accompanied by outstanding performances in track and field, consistently winning in high jump. He represented the Grammar School at the 1960 Windward Island Inter-Schools tournament in several events and in football. Additionally, he played for the Eagles Football Club while attending the UWI. During medical school he developed a love for tennis, which until now remains a part of his passion. He was most instrumental in a Vincentian obtaining a tennis scholarship to an American college. This individual later coached this sport both in St. Vincent and in Italy. Management of a St. Vincent tennis team that played in Trinidad was another contribution that he made in this sport.
Of the numerous contributions that Dr. King has made, and continues to make, only a few can be chronicled within the confines of this page. For at least the last twelve years, he has spearheaded, and quite often single-handedly, the collection and shipment of trophies for the St. Vincent Grammar School Graduation Ceremony (Speech Night). He has on several occasions driven long distances to collect books and ship them to the Education Department and the School Library. He has played a leading role in the publication of a booklet on George McIntosh, a leading Vincentian personality. He is a founding, active honorary member of several Vincentian and Caribbean organizations, and does not hesitate when assigned a task that would help these organizations to accomplish their goals. He continually encourages Vincentians to write about important events in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to create a written record for posterity, and is presently engaged in an effort to publish a book on cricket in St. Vincent.
To be of service to the people of St. Vincent, Dr. King moved back to the Island State for a period of time, at great personal and financial sacrifice. Though under no obligation, he felt that his success was attributable to the education he received in, and from St. Vincent.
Even with this level of involvement, most of Dr. King's closest friends, many of his acquaintances and several persons whom he casually knows, can count on hearing from him and even receiving a handwritten note, quite regularly. Let us be reminded that for Dr. King, all of this begins at home..with his parents. In the words of one of his closest friends "for all his successes, he remains as loving and dutiful a son that any mother can bring forth." |