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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The late Kenneth N. Francis,
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Nassau, Bahamas - The Bahamas Press Club 2014 will be staging its Awards Banquet on November 21, 2015 at the British Colonial Hilton, 7pm.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Mrs. Eileen Dupuch Carron, for her more than 50 years of dedicated and courageous work at the Tribune newspaper, with the last 43 of those years sitting in the publisher/editor’s chair.
The posthumous honour will go to c a man who rose from being a press operator at The Nassau Guardian to becoming the publisher and general manager of one of the oldest newspapers in the region, established in 1844.
The Pioneer Awards will go to Wendall Jones, of Jones Communication Network, for private radio broadcasting (Love 97), newspaper (Bahama Journal), and television (JCN); Mr. Anthony Ferguson, Guardian Talk Radio (96.9FM); Mr. Henry Saunders, (More 94 FM); Mr. Silbert Mills, Radio Abaco; and the Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas, ZNS Radio and Television.
Kenneth N. Francis, CBE
From a press operator in the Commercial Printing Department of the Nassau Guardian, the late Kenneth N. Francis worked his way up through the ranks to become the newspaper’s publisher and general manager.
Over the course of his illustrious career, he was the person responsible for bringing the newspaper solidly into the age of computers and offset printing. When the owners of the Guardian acquired the Freeport News in the late 1960s, he was the person designated to set up newspaper operations in Grand Bahama.
The first son of the late Hiram and Esther Francis, born on Fort Fincastle in 1930, Kenneth, in his youth, was a budding musician and an avid sportsman. He played the Clarinet in the Catholic Marching Band and represented The Bahamas on the National Cricket Team throughout the West Indies.
Affectionately known as “Six”, he was instrumental, along with a number of his friends in breaking the colour barrier for golfers in The Bahamas. History will show that after their intervention, the Sonesta Beach Golf Course, the Paradise Island Golf Course, and others, all became accessible to the average Bahamian.
It was also during his tenure as president of the Bahamas Golf Federation that the youth programme got its greatest support and the first Junior Golf Tournament was held.
Kenneth married Stephanie Marshall in 1953 and they had five children: Joyanne, Patricia, Stephen, Debra and Kenrah.
Recognized by Queen Elizabeth II with the honour of Commander of the British Empire (CBE), Ken Francis, a devout Anglican and lifelong member of St. Matthew’s Parish, died in 2013 at the age of 82.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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