Penny remembers Ferreira for service and patriotism

Op­po­si­tion Leader and Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has paid trib­ute to Fer­die Fer­reira, de­scrib­ing his pass­ing as a “pro­found loss” for Trinidad and To­ba­go and the PNM.

In a so­cial me­dia post, Beck­les said she drew com­fort from Psalm 116:15: “Pre­cious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faith­ful ser­vants.” She de­scribed Fer­reira as a life-long ser­vant of the coun­try, a man of in­tegri­ty and de­vo­tion, and praised his con­tri­bu­tions to pub­lic life.

Born in 1932, Fer­reira rose from hum­ble be­gin­nings on Dun­don­ald Street to be­come a found­ing mem­ber of the PNM. He served as Elec­tions Of­fi­cer and Labour Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer and was a trust­ed ad­vi­sor to Dr. Er­ic Williams and sub­se­quent par­ty lead­ers.

In 2021, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go award­ed him a Doc­tor of Hu­mane Let­ters in recog­ni­tion of his im­pact on pub­lic life. Beck­les de­scribed him as prin­ci­pled, hon­est and un­wa­ver­ing in his com­mit­ment to the peo­ple of Trinidad and To­ba­go, not­ing his clar­i­ty, courage and deep love for the coun­try.

“Thank you, dear­est Fer­die, for your life­time of ser­vice, your loy­al­ty to the PNM, and your de­vo­tion to the up­lift­ment of our so­ci­ety. May the an­gels re­ceive you in glo­ry, and may you rest in the eter­nal com­fort of God’s lov­ing em­brace,” Beck­les wrote.

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