“I am placing him in God’s hands.”
Hazel Gibson-Blunt was talking about her 57-year-old son, Marston Gibson, who is leaving New York for Barbados to become the new Chief Justice.
“I am very proud of him and of his achievements and I am hopeful that everything would go well,” said Gibson-Blunt, sitting at a large mahogany table in a spacious second floor conference room. There, scores of judges, attorneys, an Episcopal priest and State Supreme Court employees in Nassau County had gathered to say farewell and to praise the attorney referee, a junior judge, who is to be sworn in this week.
“He is the oldest of my children and he has always been a source of pride and joy for me and the rest of the family,” she added with a broad smile.
Gibson-Blunt, who has lived on Long Island for decades but will be relocating to Barbados with her son, wasn’t alone in expressing their pride in his accomplishment and in articulating confidence that he would perform with aplomb.
Chief administrative judge Anthony Marano, of the New York State Supreme Court in Nassau County, a rich community of 1.3 million people, headed the list.
“He always comports himself with a kind of dignity and I wish I could steal his smile,” said Marano.
“He is always uplifting, always positive and has a happy look about him. He always undertakes all of his responsibilities in a special way, with dignity and with pride. For us in the court system, we are disappointed to lose an individual of Marston’s calibre but we are very, very happy for him, his family and the lucky people of Barbados.”
“Over the years, Marston has been an incredible resource, an incredible person for us in the court system and for the public,” Marano added. “He is always uplifting, always positive with a very happy look about him and he always undertakes all of his responsibilities in a special way with dignity and pride.”
Over a buffet lunch of chicken, sandwiches, salad and other dishes, Gibson received a steady stream of well wishes in private conversations. Also present were his sister Donna Gibson, Andre Padmore, Barbados’ consul in New York, and Rev. P. Allister Rawlins, the Episcopal dean of Central Nassau and rector of St George’s Church in Hempstead, where Gibson has worshipped for three years, sings in the choir, plays the guitar and serves as the parish’s legal adviser.
“On the first Sunday in every month, he plays the guitar at a service we hold at the Hempstead Parknursing home,” explained Dean Rawlins, a West Indian who delivered a short prayer before the speeches began. “Barbados is getting a brilliant mind and a very humble person.”
After receiving a plaque from Marano, Gibson said he considered the judges, court officers and others in the legal system in Nassau County as members of his “family” and therefore would miss them.
“It is very easy for everyone to concentrate on the challenges. But I have a habit – I don’t know if it is a good habit or a bad habit – but wherever I go, I create a new family,” he said. “It is part of my nature and of the 22 years I have spent in the court system in the state of New York, I have spent 13 years here, so in a very real sense you are part of my family.”
At the request of court officials, Gibson, accompanied by Paul Paoli, a professional colleague who plays the guitar and the violin, took up his instrument and sang three songs – Heart Of Gold, Guitar Man and Bob Marley’s classic No Woman, No Cry, receiving thunderous applause at the end of each number.
During the final piece the earthquake struck, prompting a court employee to tell Gibson before people were ordered to evacuate the building that he “made the building shake” with his music!
However, Gibson said he didn’t feel the tremor, which lasted a few seconds.
Gibson’s mother spoke later about his love of music, explaining he had made his first guitar in Barbados when he was about 12 or 14 years old. That was before she bought him one.
“He taught himself music and how to play the guitar,” added Gibson-Blunt. “To tell the truth, I don’t know if the music or the law is his first love.”
