This online memorial was created in loving memory of Kenneth Webster, whose life story is told throughout this memorial website.
Welcome to Ken Webster’s life.
Through this memorial you will get to know Ken Webster. I hope he touches your heart like he did all those that were fortunate enough to have known him. Words cannot begin to describe what a remarkable person he was.
Ken was born April 24th 1930. He attended St Mary’s College, a private Catholic high school and received his Cambridge Higher School Certificate, referred to in Trinidad as your HC, which is the highest that one could go in high school. This is a step higher than most students have as most leave after the Senior high school certificate. Grade 1, 2 or 3; three being the lowest grade but still accepted for entrance to Universities.
He was influenced by San Juan, where he was born and grew up. His father and uncles on his mother side used to parang around the Christmas season. They would visit friends and family with song and music that was part of their tradition. Ken’s mother’s mother (his grandmother ) was from Venezuela so Spanish was spoken to her and her relatives. Ken’s mother spoke fluent Spanish and he also spoke Spanish, as he used to have to run errands for them and they couldn’t speak English. Parang is sung in Spanish.
He came to Canada in August 1957 he was accepted into 2nd year Science at the University of Manitoba. His subjects were 2nd year but Zoology was 3rd year and physics was 1st year as he didn’t do physics in high school He was accepted to Medical school in 1959, passed every year and graduated in May 1963.
In Medical school some of the students during their break would go the Common Room and play cards to pass the time. Ken and his buddies would play Poker. He later said some of the guys loved to play the game but didn’t know how to bluff but he was a good bluffer so he won quite a few games. That paid for his coffee.
Ken was a real outdoors man. He loved hunting and fishing. While at university he used to go with one of his classmates to hunt rabbits in winter. They used to wear snow shoes, the flat wicker things, so that they could walk on the snow and they used to go fishing in the summer and portage their canoe over distances to go to the other side when they couldn’t paddle through.
Ken loved music and would stay for hours in the basement listening to his Jazz with his headphones on so he wouldn’t disturb anyone. He had hundreds of CDs and tapes and records. He formed the Parang band. He and his cousin used to get together and just have fun in the basement playing music with Ken on the keyboard and his cousin on the guitar or sometimes the cuatro. The cuatro is a 4 string instrument like a small guitar. They then invited some other friends to join them and formed a band that was named by one of their friends in the band as the Granchargers. The band continues to play. He joined the Winnipeg Steel Orchestra and played the 6 bass and the the cello pans. He was a member until his death.
” Every day it’s something different that reminds me of you. Every day something happens that I want to tell you.”