STANFORD CALLENDER

I MET the farmer more than 50 years ago when I was a sales clerk at what was then Gordon Grant Co Ltd in Scarborough.

This young man, Dr Keith Rowley, came to the store to buy a few rolls of sheep wire. I was the person who attended to him, and I wrote a cash bill for him to pay; he wrote a cheque to cover the cost of the wire.

In those days we had to get a director or senior member of the company to authorise cheques. The director to whom I gave the cheque for authorisation took the cheque, looked at it, then looked at Rowley. They had a brief conversation and the farmer left with his sheep wire.

I never saw him again until early in 1981, when I was an assemblyman in the House of Assembly. The chairman of the Tobago West constituency, the late Lloyd Thomas, came to introduce Rowley to me as the prospective candidate for Tobago West in the 1981 general election.

Thomas said to him, "Dr Rowley, meet this young man, Stanford Callender. I would advise you to keep him close to you, as he would be of great help to you in the election campaign." That was the beginning of our lasting friendship.

Although Rowley was not successful in that election, it was the beginning of his long and outstanding career in politics and service to the people of TT. Subsequently, we worked together in every THA election and general election from 1984, and continued our strong collaboration.

Over the years we grew as friends who celebrated significant milestones and accomplishments within our respective families. On June 29, 1985, Rowley married Sharon, and I was a guest at his wedding. When he was leaving the church, he looked at me and said, “You next.” As it turned out, I got married in December 1985.

We also share the pride of having children who followed their passions, and we both have daughters who earned doctoral degrees and are experts in their respective fields of psychology and mental health.

I celebrated his appointment as an opposition senator after the PNM lost the general election in 1986. From his entry into the Parliament, Rowley became a force to be reckoned with, a clinical researcher, debater, and orator par excellence. I knew then that he had a future in the political landscape of TT.

[caption id="attachment_1145489" align="alignnone" width="768"] Stanford Callender -[/caption]

He was the campaign manager for the 1988 THA election. We were both invited to appear on the Issues Live programme on TTT, representing the PNM and Hochoy Charles, and Benedict Armstrong representing the DAC. It was an intense debate, and we took them for a run, but it was not reflected in the election results.

Rowley contested the 1991 general election, this time as the candidate for Diego Martin West. He won his seat, and the PNM won the election, putting the party back in government.

I was appointed a government senator after that election and served as the parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Co-operatives from 1991 to 1992. In 1992 I was reassigned to the Ministry of Agriculture,