Barry Morrison: a son of the village
Published:Saturday | May 14, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer
PLEASANT FARM, St Catherine:
BARRY MORRISON is a household name in Pleasant Farm Village. His dexterity has placed him in the hearts of several residents, like Janet Goring, retired educator.
"We have one lovely soul in Pleasant Farm," a smiling Goring told The Gleaner. "He is the extended family to most of us, especially to the older people. We depend on him," she said.
The son of Mile Gully, Manchester, touched down on the soils of St Catherine in 1959 when his adopted father, working at Kirvine then, transferred to the Alcan, Ewarton, plant and relocated his family to Orangefield Village. However, by the time they decided to return home, Morrison, then an adult, had found a new family. When the Greens opened their doors to Morrison who had attended Orangefield Primary School with their sons Johnny and Charlie, he was working as a bartender at the Pleasant Farm Sports club.
"I never get any training in bartending. I just developed the skill," Morrison explained while making a cup of tea for 94-year-old Daisy Green.
"You cannot find a more loving and kind person more than Barry," Green, a Guyanese living in Jamaica since 1951, uttered.
"He is like a son to the whole village. He takes care of all the old people like meself. He can wash, he can cook, he can clean, Barry will do anything for us, we all love him very much," a grateful Green gleams.
For Morrison, who was also a classmate of the late Basil 'Bagga' Brown, popular television broadcaster and entertainment personality, Green is like a mother.
"I do everything for her; buy her medicine, go to the bank, go to the market, to the shop, everything. She is like a mother to me," he said proudly.
The unmarried 65-year-old sports a welcoming smile, which makes it easy for persons in the community who need his help to approach him. So, one of his neighbours, Allan Bowman Jr, director of Carlong Construction, usually calls on him from time to time .
"Anything at all you want to do and you ask Barry, he never said no. He is always there. Barry is like a father, a brother, a friend to everybody in Pleasant Farm, especially the older folks," Bowman, a lover of birds stressed, as Morrison helped him to feed his pets.
He adds: "I never hear Barry quarrel with anybody or the other way around. You only see people like him once in a lifetime because God only send them come once," Bowman said..
Morrison, also described by Green as multitalented, worked at the Orangefield Sports club prior to his stint at the Pleasant Farm club.
Nicest chicken
"I cook the nicest chicken. I used to do that at Orangefield club. I remember people walked miles to come taste my southern fried chicken," said a soft-spoken Morrison.
"But I don't eat chicken," he chuckled. "When I was a child in Manchester, I see a fowl eat a lizard and from that I don't eat chicken." However, he admits that he has been tempted on a number of occasions.
"Sometimes when I'm cooking chicken, the way how it smell nice it's tempting. I eat every other meat, but not chicken," Morrison chuckled. "I love to cook. I love to bake. The only thing I can't cook is stone," the older brother of veteran trade unionist Vincent Morrison murmurs.
"That's true," Green laughs. "He makes nice juices too. There is nothing that Barry can't do."
Though he has no children of his own, he has fathered many. He enjoys playing dominoes and often engages Green and Goring in a game or two. Of course, sometimes he picks up a six love from either ladies or both.
A sociable Morrison says extending a helping hand to those in need satisfies his soul.
"I just have a tender heart for people. I feel good to make someone happy. When I do something for someone, if they don't even say thanks, God will give me my reward," he smiles.
PHOTOS BY KAREN SUDU