'Fun, food and family’...Frederick Hickling remembered at thanksgiving service

Nadine Wilson-Harris, Staff Reporter

Medical director of the Black Psychiatrists of America, Dr Patricia Newton, today surmised that Professor Frederick Hickling is likely right now doing everything else besides resting in peace.

Being acquainted with him for more than 40 years, she knows that his witty, rabble-rousing nature would not allow him to sit still, even in death.

“You know that he is engaging in all those debates, you know he is holding people to task and taking absolutely no prisoners,” she said during a thanksgiving service to celebrate the life of the prominent physiatrist.

Most of those who paid tribute to him focused their attention on the life he lived.

Dr Earl Wright, a friend and colleague for over half a century, said Hickling lived a productive, good and enjoyable life.

“He was a pioneer in the development and transformation of psychiatry in Jamaica, an indomitable crusader for mental health. Above all, he was a loving and caring person and a good friend,” said Wright who is a consultant psychiatrist and president of the Jamaica Psychiatric Association.

“Many of his public discourses were calls to action against injustice suffered by the marginalised and oppressed black people which he saw mirrored in the plight of the mentally ill,” he asserted.

Reverend Dr Gordon Cowans remembered him as a unique individual who championed the liberation of his people.

“All his life, he used his unique personality, character, intellect, expertise and status to advance the common lives of ordinary people,” he said.

Cowans said he invested his whole being in emancipating the minds of people.

“He has contributed immeasurably to this yet unfinished project of the liberation of our people in our post colonial existence,” he said during his homily at the St Andrew Scots Kirk United Church.

Hickling died on May 7 after a long and illustrious career as a psychiatrist and professor.

He was a former head of the University of the West Indies, Mona Psychiatry Department and was also the executive director of the Caribbean Institute of Mental Health.

His advocacy on behalf of the mentally ill has earned him the reputation of being a “mad man” and his love for the arts was contagious.

His daughter, Daniella, said his children knew his work intimately, but despite his immersion into his various causes, he lived a balanced life by focusing on fun, food and family.

“He believed in learning through and from experiences and so that was what he gave us, experiences,” she said as she recounted family trips.

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