Calypsonian dies at home

It was an emotional day for residents and family members gathered at the home of late calypsonian Colin Observer Reid who was found dead today.

When news of his passing spread, a modest crowd gathered outside his Grazettes, St Michael residence  as police conducted their forensic investigations.

Observer’s daughter Zena Worrell, who said she was unaware of her father being sick, recounted the days leading up to the discovery.

“The last time I would have heard him was on Saturday. He came by me and we cooked some food and then I dropped him off here on Saturday evening and I messaged him after that. I didn’t hear him since,” she said.

Worrell said she went by the house on Wednesday because her father was supposed to alter scrubs for her. She said when she did not hear him, she went back to her car and wrote a note.

“I pelt it on the table where I know he makes his stuff so that even if he gets home or whatever he would see it, but the fact that I saw light coming through the back door, I said that he couldn’t have gone far…. When I messaged the phone, it was one tick [but] I knew he was having problems with the tablet or the phone that he used,” she added.

However, feeling uneasy, Worrell  returned to her father’s house today to check on him.

“A spirit tell me to go straight there and see if you hear him. Even a lady at work was like, ‘Zena go and see him and see what going on with him’ and stuff like that, and [I thought] when I get here I gine see my father and he gine give me a hug like normal and I gine ask he ‘where part you was? People was looking for you’,” she said.

However, when Worrell arrived at the residence, she saw neighbours outside who told her something did not seem right because they were seeing a lot of flies around the house.

“I was saying he has cats, but I was like ‘no, something ain’t right for truth, you ain’t hear you father or nothing like that’. I went straight and I grab the neighbour’s phone and I call the police…. That’s when I start to cry and my neighbours kept hugging me and telling me everything will be fine,” she recalled.

Worrell said her father did not present any signs of sickness, to her knowledge. “He was good, he was good, honestly. He never took any medications or stuff like that, so even if something was wrong I can’t even tell you because I never saw him taking anything. My father loves his herbs and natural plants,” she said.

“Up to now I still in shock, cause I can’t believe it. You know if you have a parent that was sick you would understand, but to have a parent that walking around good and you would never thought that something like that would have happened.”

The decomposing body of Observer was identified by son Corey Douglas as Worrell explained she could not bear to see her father in that state.

She shared some of her memories as she recounted her time with a man dubbed The People’s King.

“My father was a very great person. He was very educated, he used to teach me a lot of lessons, even for him to come up the road and show how to cook cou cou. He showed me his way of doing it and it was the best,” she remembered, adding that outside of being a good entertainer her father was a man to have good conversation with.

“Anybody that knows him knows that my father would give you any advice or anything and he loved to speak about things,” she said. “As big as I am, my dad would give me a kiss and say ‘see you later’…. Despite whatever things that does happen…I saw the best out of a father,” Worrell added.
(kobiebroomes@barbadostoday.bb)