Gwendoline Albertha Prescott-Bakker: The Life She Lived and the Way She Lived It

By Dr. Ivy Mitchell

GWENDOLINE ALBERTHA PRESCOTT-BAKKER
A LIFE WELL LIVED

Think of the best that you can do with the resources given you by God while living your life and you would think of the life of someone such as Gwendoline Albertha Prescott Bakker. As one follows her life of love and caring noted in this book written by her daughter, Dr. Ivy Bakker-Mitchell, and dedicated to the way she lived, the reader would agree that Gwendoline’s life was indeed well lived.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 7, 2023
• ISBN: 9781669865681

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 by Dr. Ivy Mitchell.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 03/03/2023

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CONTENTS

Forward

Prologue

PART 1: GROWING UP AND STARTING HER

OWN FAMILY

Chapter I: Sandvoort (1)

Chapter II: Demerara Mackenzie and Speightland

PART 2: LIFE IN RAINBOW CITY

Chapter III: The Move

ChaptER IV: Preparing Her Children For The Future: Education

Chapter V: Moving Forward: Entrepreneurship And Self-Improvement

Chapter VI: Challenging Times

PART 3: LIFE BEYOND RAINBOW CITY

Chapter VII: Traveling Abroad

Chapter VIII: Times In Which She Felt Fulfilled

Chapter IX: Fifth And Last Visit Abroad – England

Chapter X: Gwendoline Remembered

PART 4: APPENDICES

Sandvoort (2)

Summary Of Guyana

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Mother Gwendoline Albertha PrescottBakker

MY MOTHER, THE EXAMPLE

GWENDOLINE ALBERTHA PRESCOTT-BAKKER

Where She Lived and How She Lived Her Life

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Passport picture, circa 1981.

FORWARD

As a child, and growing up, I have always admired my mother, Gwendoline Albertha Prescott-Bakker. She was a woman who had a quiet spirit and showed integrity and uprightness in all she did. I believe a mother is a giver, and what I believe sets a mother apart is that she gives of her best, for she gives from her heart. This kind of woman did the best that she could with what she had. Someone once indicated that if life gives you lemons you make lemonade, and she did that. She not only made lemonade, but she made much lemonade, blessing everyone with whom she came into contact.

As a tribute to my mother, I wanted to chronicle her exemplary life so that others, including members of her family, could see what a strong and dedicated woman she was and how she held the family together during the best and the worst times. I hope that even the relatives yet unborn can benefit from her example as a true child of God. Perhaps, others can try to pattern their lives after hers, thus passing her legacy of helping and caring to other generations.

This book is dedicated to her memories. Her efforts to love and hold the family together, in spite of all odds, knew no bounds. It is believed that for all of life, love is what matters most and for her, she lived that belief as is shown in the pages of this book.

Information for the book is based on my recollection of my mother’s life and what she shared with me while she was alive. Additional information was gathered from interviews with my siblings, relatives, and friends who knew my mom. This included the numerous persons who lived at our home at different times over the years.

The information presented in the pages of the book is divided according to the places in Guyana and abroad where my mother lived beginning with Sandvoort, where she was born, and culminating with England where she spent her last years.

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Listening to a story told by one of her sons in 1978.

PROLOGUE

WHO WAS GWENDOLINE ALBERTHA

PRESCOTT- BAKKER

Shakespeare said in his play As You like It, All the world’s a stage and all the men and women simply players. They enter and exit at different times.

Gwendolyn Bakker entered the stage of life on November 9, 1911, in Sandvoort, a little farming village in Berbice, Guyana. Born to Matilda Isaacs (Sister Mat), a single woman, whose great-grandmother was a slave, she grew up with her grandmother, known by the name of Dada Lashley. However, at the age of 20 she moved away from the village to live in the Demerara area of Guyana.

Gwendolyn was about five feet, seven inches tall. She walked in an upright and dignified manner making a statement wherever she went. The young men in the village usually gave her a second glance because, according to them, she wore her wares well. The way one dresses is a reflection of one’s personality and this fact was surely revealed in the way she dressed. She loved beautiful and well-made clothes with a perfect fit. Before leaving home, Gwendolyn always made sure that she was well made up, from head to toe, her hair being well coiffed or braided and her face powered with Ponds powder. Earrings, especially gold ones, were an important part of her attire wherever she went. Her style of dresses included those with pockets and sashes, belts, or waistbands. Sleeveless and low-neck dresses were her least favorite.

Her personality was one that many people admired. Classy, dignified, friendly, loving, caring, kind, observant, and courteous are words used to describe her. She even told of having received a prize in school for being courteous. Uttering harsh and cruel words was not a part of her personality.

Kindness and love to all I owe to everybody every day, were words by which she lived. Patience and tolerance were frequently exhibited by her. She was rarely sad and never grumbled about the way life treated her. She always thought that it could have been worse.

Gwendolyn taught her eight children, and later her grandchildren, to share not only material things but to show a deep love for the family and anyone whom they met along life’s way. She taught love just by her behavior. Her unwavering love for her husband could not be equaled and was indeed a true example of love. Her children and family all thought she was an excellent mother figure. Her grandchildren referred to her as a dear old soul who was a joy to have around.

Persons visiting her home never left empty handed — a meal, a few pennies, a little gift was not too much for her to share even from the little that she had. She gave as the widow in the Bible gave her mite. A house full of children did not prevent her from accommodating visitors and relatives who wanted to stay for a while.

This hard-working woman never encouraged idleness, as she said that the devil found work for idle hands to do, and she believed full achievement came by hard work. Gwen was a financial planner who made the money she was given to take care of the home and family stretch to meet as many of the needs of her family as possible. She was forever putting aside a few dollars for a rainy day and, believe me, there were many of those.

It is said that God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called and she was indeed qualified to be a parent. She felt that her most important role in life was to take good care of her children and husband and to fulfill this role she sometimes neglected herself.

Author Tenneva Jordan, famous for her motherhood quotes, said, a mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces that she never did care for pie.

Gwendolyn’s children saw this happen many times while growing up. We noted she always made sure that her children had enough to eat and proper clothes to wear. I was always surprised that she had enough for us to share. Maybe at times, she did without or with a little. As I grew older, I often thought of Jesus feeding the five thousand with the five loaves and the two fishes. I believe she took a leaf from the Good Book.

If evaluated, one would have given her cooking skills an A+. Her food was always very delicious, her homemade drinks were the best one can have, and her baked goods caused one to ask for a repeat.

Mrs. Bakker was a devout Christian who loved the Lord with all her mind and soul. Growing up and even in her adult life she could be heard singing hymns and reciting verses from the Bible as she went about her daily task. Her children and husband remembered what an excellent memory she had. In addition to bible verses, she remembered entire Psalms and poems from her childhood days.

In honoring her life this book encompasses all the qualities listed above pertaining to this virtuous woman.

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Mom relaxing in England on her first visit.

Gwendolyn Albertha Prescott-Bakker, at Appletree Nursing home, in England celebrating her birthday, 1986.

PART ONE

Growing Up and Starting

Her Own Family

CHAPTER I

Sandvoort (1)

Where She Was Born and Where She Grew Up

Gwendoline Albertha Prescott-Bakker, my mother, was born in Sandvoort Village to a single woman named Mathilda Prescott. This small village in Berbice, Guyana (see map), where my mom grew up, had a predominantly black population of about 200 people. Everyone seemed to know each other, and most of the villagers were related or thought that they were related. The village had one main road, and most residents lived on one side or the other of this main road. There was a trench that separated the road from the houses on either side; so, to enter any of the houses one had to cross the bridge over the trench, and this bridge led to the individual’s house. The houses were all wooden structures built off the ground to prevent flooding when the water level rose in the nearby Canje creek.

Few of the villagers worked in New Amsterdam, the nearby town. Most of them were farmers who planted rice, their largest crop. They also grew vegetables and ground provisions, which they took to New Amsterdam to sell either in or outside of the market. Sandvoort had two small shops; so, much of what was needed for daily life had to be purchased from New Amsterdam, the town about three miles away. The village had two churches and one school. All children attended Sandvoort Primary School. If they were to continue their education, they would have had to travel to New Amsterdam where there was a private high school, but most parents could not afford to send their children there.

At a very early age, my mother went to live with her mother’s mother, Dada Lashley, and her uncle Frank. She was the first of five sisters but was the only one of the sisters who lived with her grandmother. My mom indicated to me that she was very well cared for by her grandmother and uncle who made sure that she was comfortable and happy, buying things that they thought she needed, and they could afford.

Mom loved going to school and learning, walking briskly and happily along the main road with books in hand as she wended her way to school. As she joined her friends on this busy, well-travelled dirt road, she chatted, listened to the birds, and observed the ripe mangoes, oranges, guava, sapodilla and other on the trees or fallen to the ground. She sometimes stopped to pick one up. These were happy moments for her and her girlfriends.

Uncle Frank was a teacher and often assisted her with her studies. She and this uncle remained close for the rest of their lives, always visiting and checking on each other whenever possible.

As a student, she enjoyed poetry and was still, in her later years, able to remember poems from her textbooks, Royal Reader Books I, ll, lll, and IV. She learned two of her favorite poems as a student in Primary school. Portions she enjoyed reciting, were from:

"The Ladder of St. Augustine"

The heights of great men reached and kept,

Were not attained by sudden flight

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling onwards through the night …

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

and "Somebody’s Mother" which began thusly:

The woman was old and feeble and gray,

And bent with the chill of the winter’s day.

The street was wet with the recent snow

And the woman’s feet were weary and slow.

She stood at the crossing and waited long

Alone, uncared for, amid the throng….

By Mary Dow Brine

The textbooks used while my mother was in school, and even during my school days many years later, were printed for use specifically in England, and for countries, like British Guiana, which were members of the British Commonwealth. Thus, information in these books, e.g., snow, was far removed from our Caribbean-based culture and experiences, but we learned the poems assigned to us, anyway. She indicated she loved reading, and the subjects she studied while in primary school included reading and poetry, writing and dictation, arithmetic (math), art (drawing), and singing. Their teachers discussed proper hygiene and information on farming, in which their parents were involved, but these were not separate subjects.

Living with her grandmother prepared her very well to be what the Bible referred to as a virtuous woman, a good wife, and a great mother. While living with her, she learned tasks that her grandmother referred to as important things that a young woman should know to do. These included good housekeeping, the art of washing, cooking, baking, and sewing. Waking up before sunrise, doing the morning chores, and fetching water in a bucket from the trench or the well to leave for cooking, cleaning, and baking never seemed to be too much for children to do in the mornings before leaving for school. After completing these chores, whether you ran to school or walked, you were there on time. By observing and listening to the advice of her grandmother, she learned honesty, caring, thriftiness, hard work, and acceptable behavior -- habits she continued all through life.

Dada Lashley was a good Christian woman, and she took my mother with her to Sunday School and church. Gwendoline thought that almost all children in Sandvoort went to church on Sunday. ChurchGoing was an activity that my mom thought lasted most of the day. Those villagers who did not attend church were thought of as heathens, though it was never said for them to overhear. Together, she and Dada Lashley read the Bible. My mother memorized bible verses and even entire chapters, which she remembered years later. Two of those Psalms which I recall her reciting in their entirety are: Psalm 1, which begins, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly, and Psalm 23, which begins, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. She, like her grandmother, was an Anglican and remained one all the days of her life.

When Gwendolyn left primary school and began working in New Amsterdam, I thought she left with a solid primary education. She was considered a very intelligent woman. Her grammar and spelling were perfect. Her ability to be a good listener, as well as to reason and evaluate situations, were unparalleled for someone with her level of education. Even though she did not attend high school as many students in those days, she had a sound elementary/primary education under renowned headmaster Mr. Scader and was well prepared for life.

My mother left school at the age of 15, and a few years later, she began her first job in New Amsterdam – three miles from Sandvoort. On that first day, her beloved grandmother walked to town with her, saw her settled in the job, and then walked back home. My mother walked to and from work each day, leaving early in the morning and returning late afternoon. Her job entailed taking care of a family, and this included cooking and cleaning. I could not remember her having said to me that she took care of the family’s two children, even though she interacted with them frequently.

However, she indicated there were three reasons why she was delighted to work. The first reason was that she became somewhat of an independent young woman earning her own money. Second, she was able to contribute to the expenses of the home in which she was living, and third, she was able, with her meager salary, to assist in purchasing some items that her younger sister Frances needed. Frances was 12 years younger than she and was her favorite sister. I think she learned this from her uncle Frank.

She recalled the pleasure she received seeing the joy on her sister’s face whenever she presented her with a new pair of shoes or fabric to make a dress. During those days, in the 1930s, dresses and other clothing for either males or females, were not bought in stores. The fabric was purchased, and a dressmaker made the clothes by measuring the individual and cutting the fabric based on the measurement and the style requested by the customer.

It was while working in the town of New Amsterdam that she met and fell in love with my Dad, Nathaniel Bakker, who was also from Sandvoort. It seemed she knew of him while she was a student at