Sir Paul, who attended and taught at the GBSS, died on Monday September 2, 2013 at the age of 78, after a long illness.
Sir Paul, a former Hostel Master, was instrumental in maintaining and attaching prominence to the GBSS Alumni Association in Grenada.
On behalf of the GBSS Alumni Association of New York, we would like to extend sympathies to the family of the late Sir Paul Scoon.
In addition to the information pasted below, see attached a tribute to Sir Paul written by Mr Dexter Mitchell.
Adapted from the Government of Grenada website
Sir Paul Scoon
Former Governor General
Term of Appointment: (1978-1992)
Sir Paul Scoon served as Grenada’s Governor General during a difficult period of tremendous turmoil in the country. Sworn in on October 4, 1978 as the island’s second Governor General, he found himself, within six months, faced with the reality of the New Jewel Movement (NJM) revolution.
The revolutionaries suspended the Constitution and the Office of the Governor General was placed in a precarious position for four years.
Following the military intervention by the United States and Caribbean Forces in October 1983, Sir Paul, as the Representative of Her Majesty the Queen-who remained as Head of State, even after independence, assumed control of the business of the State, ensuring a return to Parliamentary democracy by appointing an Interim Government which arranged for General Elections to be held under a reinstated Constitution.
Born on July 4, 1935, Sir Paul was educated at the St John’s Anglican School and at the Grenada Boy’s Secondary School. He studied as an external student of London University acquiring a Bachelor of Arts degree and later attended the Institute of Education at Leeds University. He also holds a Master of Education degree from the University of Toronto.
Sir Paul taught at the GBSS before serving as Chief Education Officer and later as Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office before being appointed Cabinet Secretary, the top post in the Grenada Civil Service.
In 1973, he was seconded to the post of Deputy Director of the Commonwealth Foundation in London which he relinquished in 1978 to become Grenada’s Governor General.
In the field of public service, Sir Paul has served on the Grenada Library Committee, on the Board of Governors of the Grenada Teachers’ College, on the Governing Body of the GBSS, on the Prison Visiting Committee, on the Board of Education and on the Management Council of the Civil Service Association.
He is co-founder and former President of the Secondary School Teachers Association, and was a member of the Board of Governors of the Centre for International Briefing at Farnham Castle in Britain.
Rotary Foundation of Rotary International named Sir Paul a Paul Harris Fellow in 1984, and he was honoured by the Queen on three occasions: In 1970 when he was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE); in 1979 when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG); and in 1985 when he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO).
He retired from the post of Governor General on July 31, 1992.
