Keri Riendo “Honk” Harrigan was born on January 5th, 1985 to Betsy and Marvel Harrigan in St. Thomas, USVI. He was the second child of his mother and grew up in the Carrot Bay area. In Keri's early years he attended The Carrot Bay Church of Seventh-day Adventists with his family. At the age of 16 he moved with his family to Nottingham Estate, Long Look.
In his early childhood he attended the Isabella Morris Primary School and the then BVI High School but did not complete his secondary education there. He later went on to Job Corp. in Homestead, Florida where he received a trade in Carpentry from the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. However, in 2003 he obtained his High School Diploma from the Department of Education in St. Thomas. It was about two weeks before his death Keri spoke of having to work hard with or without an education.
Keri was a handful from birth and would always be getting into everything. He was a charmer and would speak to anyone like he knew them for quite some time. However, when he was angry “watch out”, you had to know just how to approach him at that moment, but the good thing is he never stayed angry for long.
Over the years Keri worked alongside his Grandfather Cyril, learning the trade of carpentry; he also worked in the construction industry with CBB Enterprises and up to the time of his death with Raij Trucking.
He was a son that his mother could always count on and he would always look out for her. First thing the morning and last thing at night he would always leave wherever he was and would go check on her. Sometimes when he was seen out, he would say “I going to check on my mother”. His last words written on the notice board on the fridge on Tuesday before his passing were “Thank God 4 Mothers Like Mine”.
He had no biological children of his own but he loved children and you would always find him playing or doing stuff with or for his nieces and nephews.
Keri was the kind of person that would give to those in need and was very loyal to his families and friends. His mother fondly recalled one occasion when she returned from overseas to find one of her gas tank missing. When she asked Keri where it was he told her that he had given it to a man down the hill as he was out of cooking gas. That was the type of person Keri was always giving unselfishly.
He enjoyed hanging with his friends and it was in one of these spots that his life violently ended. Keri is gone but the victims now are his parents and families who are forced to weep because of what’s happening on the streets. Keri Riendo Harrigan ‘forever young and never forgotten’.