RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Pen­sion­er Rose Parks had loved 79-year-old Sel­wyn Lit­tle for many years, ever since she saw him on tele­vi­sion play­ing Fan­cy Sailor mas dur­ing Car­ni­val.

But just months be­fore they were ex­pect­ed to wed, Lit­tle died trag­i­cal­ly when a mu­sic truck lost con­trol and knocked him down at Cipero Street on Car­ni­val Mon­day, killing him on the spot.

Speak­ing to Guardian Me­dia at their Mon Re­pos home yes­ter­day, Parks re­called how Lit­tle al­ways wore the same im­mac­u­late uni­form when he played mas, his jack­et dec­o­rat­ed with rib­bons, medals, braid­ing, and oth­er em­bell­ish­ments to match his Fan­cy Sailor hat.

“It was this same hat he was wear­ing when a mu­sic truck hit him,” Park said be­tween tears as she gazed at the blood stains on Lit­tle’s hat dur­ing the in­ter­view.

Parks said she start­ed tak­ing care of Lit­tle a year ago when he fell ill, al­though she had loved him for many years.

“When I heard he was sick, I came here be­cause I knew I had to take care of him,” she said.

Re­call­ing their last mo­ments to­geth­er, Parks said she al­ways en­joyed her morn­ing cof­fee with Lit­tle.

“The on­ly thing that was wrong with him was his foot was too hot. He al­ways liked to walk out the road, and I would stay home count­ing down the hours,” Parks re­called.

She said Lit­tle had a pas­sion for Car­ni­val and cul­ture, so every­one catered to him be­cause of his age. When he got tired of danc­ing the streets, he would have a jeep at his dis­pos­al to rest, she added.

Parks said Lit­tle had promised to mar­ry her for her birth­day in Au­gust.

“I will miss him. I will miss our talks, our cof­fee, every­thing about him, I would miss,” she whis­pered.

She re­mem­bered how Lit­tle would “break style” on her.

“His friend told him that I was in love with him. It’s on­ly now he re­alised how much,” she added.

Lit­tle’s younger sis­ter, Mon­i­ca Lit­tle, who lived with him at his Cipri­ani Street, Mon Re­pos home, said he re­cent­ly start­ed suf­fer­ing from seizures.

“Be­fore that, we nev­er used to get along so well, but af­ter the seizures he changed and that was my favourite broth­er. I loved him a lot,” Mon­i­ca said.

She not­ed that Lit­tle had been quite pop­u­lar with San Fer­nan­di­ans.

“When we go in the gro­cery, every­body knew him. He used to wave to every­one,” she re­vealed.

His oth­er sis­ter, Pa­tri­cia Lit­tle, who came to vis­it from Al­ber­ta, Cana­da for the Car­ni­val sea­son, said the tragedy was un­ex­pect­ed. She called on band lead­ers to ex­er­cise cau­tion and en­sure the safe­ty of all mas­quer­aders.

Mean­while, Mon Re­pos/Navet coun­cil­lor Nigel Cout­ti­er said the city had lost one of its favourite mas­quer­aders.

He said Lit­tle had been a flag bear­er for Jam­merz In­ter­na­tion­al, a Fan­cy Sailor band, and de­spite his age, he en­joyed the fes­tiv­i­ties.

“His pres­ence dur­ing this time of the year was al­ways up­lift­ing. He played a piv­otal role in mak­ing our Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions what they are. His spir­it, warmth, and ded­i­ca­tion will be great­ly missed by all who knew him,” Cout­ti­er added.

On Mon­day, ACP Wayne Mys­tar said ini­tial re­ports were that the brakes in the mu­sic truck failed. Mys­tar urged band­lead­ers to take re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for en­sur­ing ve­hi­cles are road­wor­thy, not­ing that in­spec­tions will con­tin­ue af­ter Car­ni­val.