Today, the Pantin family, a group of remarkable god-fearing, service-focused people, are mourning the loss of one of their elders, Fr Gerard Pantin. Gerard Pantin, who would be appalled to hear himself referred to as anything other than Gerry, was one of three siblings who embraced a very public expression of their faith and beliefs.
The late Archbishop Anthony Pantin dramatically humanised the relationship between the church and Catholic flock which he led for decades, while Clive Pantin worked as a teacher and ultimately principal at Fatima College before taking on a role in politics as Minister of Education in the NAR administration.
Between these divergent paths of church and state was the elder Fr Pantin, who famously resigned as a science teacher at St Mary’s College to journey into Laventille after the Black Power riots of 1970 to discover what had gone wrong in the country he so dearly loved.