June Gail Addy

Autobiography

As the mother of six children, I begin writing my life history at this time of my life and attempt to make a summary of notable events that have happened

I was born on a Monday, 28th June 1948 in Trinidad – The West Indies, in a village called Santa Flora in the County of St. Patrick. I was the third child and second daughter born to my mother: Beryl Beatrice Quarless who has six children: four boys and two girls. They are Leslie Hamilton Jeanette Janet Pearl (Jenny), Myself – June Gail, Richard Cecil, Edison Anthony, and Robert Charles. My father’s name is John White and unfortunately for us my mother and father never married but lived together on and off as husband and wife. When I was Seven years of age they separated and I never saw him again until I was 20 (Twenty) years of age; even then it was just briefly, for 3-4 (three-four) hours and then we said goodbye as I was leaving Trinidad. I have not seen him since.

One of my regrets in life has been not having a father whilst I was growing up, but I can honestly say my mother made it up to us children for the absence of our father, although at times it was extremely hard for her. One of the first things I can remember from my childhood is visiting my grandfather Shadrack Hamilton Quarless who played his guitar for us and sang “There is a green hill far away.” This sweet hymn then became my brother Richards favourite song. Another first memory of my childhood was the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

It stays fresh in my memory because at that tender age of six I had to parade all dressed up in a white blouse, red pleated skirt and a blue sash (ribbon) across my shoulders with a badge of the Queen pinned on it. My uniform was made by my mother. It was an extremely exciting time for me. Yet another memory was taking part in a Church of England concert in which my part in the play was to say, “please God be with us every day,” not a big part but it filled my heart with pride to do it. My brother Richard sang his favourite hymn.

The first elementary school I attended was the Santa Flora Government School, but before that I went to Nursery or Kindergarten at Mrs Dickson’s. We all called her Mother Dick. I remember my mother sewed me pretty puff sleeves and gathered or full skirt dresses with two little pockets and matching panties. My dresses were the prettiest at school and I was immensely proud of them and my mother. So proud of her I was that I used to pick her wildflowers on the way from school to say thank you. The uniform I wore to my first elementary school was a white blouse, navy blue overall, a Panama hat (wide rimmed to shade me from the sun) and gym boots. I also wrote with a slate and a pencil.

On many occasions my mother would take us to see Grandpa, who kept a basket hung from the ceiling which he would unhook and give us our treat crackers and cheese, he also played music on his guitar for us. Something that would upset Grandpa was whenever I got into his rocking chair, I would rock soo fast that it would turn over with me, then he would ask me to get out and give someone else a turn; how this used to hurt me, but I loved him. One of the things I was most scared of as a child was my reflection, especially when it rained, and I saw my reflection in a puddle. I would run away and cry. On one occasion I went to pay Grandpa a visit, then he said I should head home as the sky had darkened. I said goodbye to him, then went outside and started collecting pins, as he lived in the back quarters of a shop owned by my Aunty Petty, his eldest daughter. In the shop they made clothes to sell and swept some pins away from the dust. I continued picking up the pins, then it started to rain, which made it scary for me to go home. I had to call Grandpa to accompany me home, needless to say he was angry with me, as he had to get dressed, but I loved him even more.

Many times, during my childhood things were not good and I remember my mother being very unhappy as most times she had to struggle to make ends meet. Inspite of this we went without in fact we were some of the best dressed children around as she made all our clothes. Times got harder and she decided to take my father to court for maintenance for us. She did this but he only paid us a few times, she took him to court again, and he disowned me, but claimed the others. He still did not maintain my brothers and sister. It was then that my mother decided to send us to a children’s home, although some of our relatives were willing to have us. But my mother did not want to have her family split up.

We went to the St. Mary’s children Home in 1956 when I was eight years as it was the same year, I lost my grandpa January of the same year. It was about four months later that my mother came to work in the children’s home. We were overjoyed as we missed her a lot. From thereafter my mother’s circumstances improved and so she was able to provide for us the way she would like to. We were very privileged children in as much as we had every opportunity to develop ourselves. I attended the St Mary’s E.C School – my second elementary school for six years and during that time I learnt a great deal. I was confirmed at the age of ten at St Mary’s Church by Father Jessop and the Bishop. I learnt to dance folk dances of Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Scotland (Gay Gordons), Spain and African dances. My tutors were Miss Turner (An American) and Mr Desmond Tracey from Trinidad, who danced with a dance troupe. I also entered for music festival of Trinidad & Tobago.

The song I sang was Rock-A -Bye-Baby!!!!

I will always remember the day I sang at the Queens Hall and as I walked onto the stage which accommodated an audience of one thousand or more people, and on the day was packed out, I could hear my footsteps as I walked onto the huge stage, with the big microphones hanging from the ceilings. I stood in the centre and looked down at the adjudicators who were all from England.

My heart pounded as I waited for my pianist Mr Duckray to begin and then I opened my mouth to sing, but could hardly get the words out. Somehow, I managed the first verse and then I felt more at ease with the second. My marks from the adjudicators were high, but not high enough to get me through to the finals. One adjudicator comment was “a sweet voice, but the words were bundled up in the first verse.” This happened when I was 10 years old. In 1962, I went to my first secondary school at the age of Fourteen. It was the Osmond Girls High School at Barataria. Our headmaster was a Seventh Day Adventist who did not allow us to wear jewellery, much to my disgust as that same year. I had my ears pierced for earrings and so when I went to school, I had to take my earrings out.

This made the holes to close. I stayed at that school for 2 years and then my sister Jennifer got me into the second High School I attended – it was Progressive Educational Institute; I was much happier there and made many good friends. I reached the fifth grade and stayed until I was nineteen.

Unfortunately for me, my mother became ill during this time and so I was unable to pursue my studies for GCE examination because of a lapse in school fees. I left high school at nineteen and attempted a secretarial course, but I did not like it, so I left the school. At this age, I knew what I wanted to do with my life and that was to become a children’s nurse.

My sister Jenny had already left Trinidad for England to become a nurse, and she used to send me nursing journals. I collected various addresses and started applying to hospitals in England. I wrote applications to many hospitals for over a year, but I could not get a favourable reply.

Many times, I would despair and thought that I had never become a nurse. I could stay at home and become a nurse, but I always wanted to travel. During this time, I became engaged to the first boy I ever went out with. He was ten years older than me. His name was Jonny De-Piesa, and he was the lightweight boxing champion and idol in Trinidad and Tobago. He was rated third in the world in his division. How we met was that he saw me one day while I was playing netball at St Mary’s and made enquiries about me, and went to see my mother to ask if he could take me out. She consented, and we went out together for two years.

During that time, I met several interesting and important people and went to many interesting places. Sometime during 1969, I had a reply from the Royal Liverpool Children’s Hospital saying I had been accepted and could I come to get into the July Pupil Training School. Everyone was overjoyed and happy for me as it seemed as though I had been waiting for an eternity to be accepted somewhere. I will never forget the day I left Trinidad; it rained the whole morning. I got up and got dressed into a lovely brown and beige trouser suit—which I sewed myself. I had learned to sew for myself and took a beginner’s course in dressmaking at the Singer School Companyduring this time I was waiting for a hospital. My hair was done at the hairdresser’s the day before. I went to meet my mother as I had spent the night at my teacher’s friend’s house, Mrs Grace Hart. My boyfriend Jonny, Grace and her family, my mum, and brothers and a few more relations came to see me off.

I left Trinidad on 5th June 1969 and arrived in England on 22nd June, during which time I saw many interesting places. Our first stop was La Guaira, Venezuela. We went ashore and saw a bit of life in the Latin Americas. It was all very interesting. We also took five hundred passengers aboard the IRPINA. Our second call was to Martinique, an island owned by the French, then Dominica, before we crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Then we saw the Canary Islands—exceptionally beautiful with flowers everywhere—and the people were very friendly. Then Tenerife, Barcelona (Spain), Casablanca (Africa), Naples in Italy, where we got off the boat and took a train across the continent. We stopped at Calais in France and crossed the English Channel by ferry, which took us to Dover seaport. We then travelled to Victoria Station. I was met by my sister Jenny and her husband Philip Kwatia.

My first impression of England was how dark everything looked—the clouds and sky, the houses—everything looked dull in contrast to my beautiful, bright, sunny Trinidad. I wondered why there were so many factories, not realizing that they were houses, until my sister Jenny pointed this out to me. I went to stay with my sister for a few days before journeying to Liverpool. I spent a few years as a nurse and met a range of people during my professional training. Some of the tacks and experiences were traumatic but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed being a nurse and helping others. The best part of my job was working with the newborn babies and Alas I was soon to be a mum.

I became a mum to Christopher Quarless (the sweetest child) followed by Jason Lawrence and Tracey Lawrence. This marked an end to my Nursing career as I decided to dedicate my time to ensuring that I raised my children properly. In 1976 I met my husband to be at church and we were baptised in February and April of this year. Two years later we got married on the 17th of June, and we started to live together as a married couple in Reeves Croft, Milton Keynes.

We welcomed our twins in the year of 1979 – a son and daughter who filled our home with joy and kept all of us on our toes – the stories I could tell you. And the last bundle of joy we had was born in 1981. The next 5 years of our marriage were spent rearing the children and my husband travelled between Ghana and the UK for various employment opportunities and then became involved with the LDS Church in Ghana.

We moved to Africa after a short stint to review the living arrangements in 1986 and got involved with the 31st of December Women’s Movement, Relief Society and was active in the PTA of my children’s school. My time was spent teaching and nurturing women with life skills to allow them to make money to feed and look after their homes – I took pride in showing the talents that I had with as many women as I could. This was my calling – to train, teach, nurture, and empower women while making sure that my children had the best care a mother could give.

In 1991 we left to support Isaac on a church assignment in the UK. The family was relocated as expatriates to Solihull, West Midlands for just over a year after which we were moved to Nigeria for Isaac to run the West Africa Regional Manager of Temporal Affairs. We spent 4 years in Nigeria and then returned to Ghana in 1996 where I have lived ever since. Since returning to Ghana and the kids all leaving home except for Abraham (the youngest of the clan) I had the opportunity to open the June Gail Vocational Institution linked to the NVTI in Ghana and trained many young women during the next 5 years.

However, when my twin daughter got ill in 1999, I had to go back to the UK and support her / care for her over the course of 4 years (back and forth) – a battle she overcame with God’s grace. Every time I went to the UK, I seized the opportunity to spend time with my other children and all my grandchildren. This was always a joyous occasion filled with love, laughter, food, and dancing. My children also made a point of congregating wherever I stayed – making sure that each day was full of love and kisses from the little ones.

Family always played an important part of my life – I made sure that I kept contact with my own siblings as often as I could and occasionally over the years went to spend quality time with my only sister Jennifer in London. My sister and I were keen to stay on top of our health and always exchanged data, recipes, medications, and general wellbeing tips to keep us in the best shape we could in our later years. In 2014 I lost my husband – Isaac Newton Addy and the stress and pressure associated with hispassing resulted in me also having a stroke 2 weeks later.

My children rushed me to the UK as they were not prepared to have history repeat itself; given that their father had passed away due to medical negligence at 37 Military Hospital. The height of incompetence and sheer lack of due diligence and care led to his demise after successfully undergoing brain surgery. The children refused to allow me to stay in Ghana and the next few years were spent recuperating and getting my health back on track.

The Devine Calling

June struggled with her health as a Type 2 Diabetic – the constant need to take tablets and various other supplements eventually took their toll on her and she started resisting this. June was active in the LDS church until the passing of her late husband and then she slowly started to move away from the church activities and meetings due to mobility issues and her health.
June is and always will be a CHRISTIAN – Good works were part and parcel of her day-to-day activities – acting compassionately and showing love in its truest form to all that needed her help. June’s desire was to go back to Trinidad & Tobago to show her children where she came from and enable them all to get to know her history! This desire became stronger towards the tail end of 2024 and her daughters gave June the assurance that this year being 2025 – she would have the holiday of her life.
This however never materialised as June unexpectedly passed on to her maker and father in Heaven on the 6th of April 2025. May the Soul of our beloved Sister, Mother, Aunt, Grandma, Great Grandma rest in the bosom of the Almighty.