A now famous AGHS "old girl" Her Excellency Dame Louise Lake-Tack honoring AGHS Graduands Class 2009 with her
presence.
Cathedral of St. John the Divine
July 2009
Welcome Old Girls!
Welcome to the Antigua Girl's High School Old Girls Blog!
How are you doing?
June Abbott’s passing brought me back to that twin blessing and we hope to continue and grow these blessings here.
The immediate goals of this blog is to establish a list of the old girls and identify whether or not they are still with us and their location physically in the world and on email.
We would want to post two AGHS Honor Rolls on this blog: .
An "In Memoriam' list
A "We Can Get in Touch" List! We can post pictures (past or current). We can add birthdays (year optional!).
Meanwhile once you have (or create, its free!) a gmail email, you can respond, share YOUR ideas right here, post an inquiry, send a greeting, in other words, start connecting right now!!
We need a team of skilled managers who can help with gathering and entering information and sending ecards to members at approriate times to express that we care about each other.
This blog is for sharing of memories and the personal comfort of connecting once more to our early social roots. It should involve miniumal expenditure and seek to be as inclusive as possible.
While it can be helpful in other ways it should not be burdened with other tasks. Other groups serve those functions quite well.
I have reproduced the poem I wrote for June that got all of this started below:
How are you doing?
It is our hope that we will each be blessed by sharing with and caring for each other on and through this blog. AGHS with its proximity to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine were early blessings and we were each recipients.
June Abbott’s passing brought me back to that twin blessing and we hope to continue and grow these blessings here.
The immediate goals of this blog is to establish a list of the old girls and identify whether or not they are still with us and their location physically in the world and on email.
We would want to post two AGHS Honor Rolls on this blog: .
An "In Memoriam' list
A "We Can Get in Touch" List! We can post pictures (past or current). We can add birthdays (year optional!).
Meanwhile once you have (or create, its free!) a gmail email, you can respond, share YOUR ideas right here, post an inquiry, send a greeting, in other words, start connecting right now!!
We need a team of skilled managers who can help with gathering and entering information and sending ecards to members at approriate times to express that we care about each other.
This blog is for sharing of memories and the personal comfort of connecting once more to our early social roots. It should involve miniumal expenditure and seek to be as inclusive as possible.
While it can be helpful in other ways it should not be burdened with other tasks. Other groups serve those functions quite well.
I have reproduced the poem I wrote for June that got all of this started below:
PART I
From Antigua Girls’ High School “old girls”: An Elegy for June
Our Dear Friend and Classmate June Rita Cavelle Abbott
composed by
Elaine Henry Olaoye, November 6, 2009,
Our tears are precious
They are tiny jeweled drops
Cascading symbols of how deeply we care,
Symbols of a loss of someone beautiful and rare
Symbols of the shock that laid bare
The mystery, the finality of death
That is a not always experienced as fair…
Death, that can claim some of us before we wear
Any signs that our departure might be near.
Your death claimed you on the day of your birth
You were taken, reclaimed by another sphere of life on earth
With such remarkable precision and symmetry
We are all left pondering afresh this ancient and modern mystery.
You have returned to the island of your birth
And we surround you now with our love
Our memories of your mirth,
Of your wisdom, your compassion, your independence, your strength
That allowed you abroad to succeed, to shine
While not forgetting family and friends here who were in line
For your support, your counsel and your care.
As we say our goodbyes to you here
In the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Where as AGHS girls we sang so, many times
We offer thanks for all the gifts collectively we have received,
And the blessings of a good education that at AGHS, we each had.
Death transcends human reason and understanding
Just as the act and circumstances of birth are not fully comprehended.
Death points us all to the presence of the unknown
And dimensions of each of our lives that we do not fully own.
Rest in love, June, as you return home
As your spirit is freed, to bless all you have loved
And all, you can now encircle in your fold.
Wonderful vehicle for linking long lost friends. Love the blog.
ReplyDeleteDawn A.
I want to say Thank you, Thank you to Holly Joseph. First thank you is for doing a powerful and sensitive reading of June's poem at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and distributing a copy of the poem to all 'old girls' present at the funeral. Nelly Daniel Tungteng, my cousin, brought down the beautifully embellished copy that was worthy of June.
ReplyDeleteThe second thank you is for taking this idea of an AGHS Blog and also a Website and sharing and supporting it.
We hope to continue to attract this kind of energy and so strengthen each other wherever we make our lives.
Happy New Year 2011 to all Antigua Girls High School graduates.
ReplyDeletehi my name is davina ramsay nd i just start the school nd i just want to say hi
ReplyDeleteI attended Antigua Girls High School from 1957 - 1959 when my father Hon. Peter Reynolds was Financial Secretary for Antigua. I have very happy memories of the Island in those days, although Ive never been able to return from England to visit.
ReplyDeleteFacebook has an AGHS group. Perhaps an invitation can be sent to the members.
ReplyDeleteI am not a graduate but attended AGHS from Class 3 to Form 4. I migrated to the USA before completion. Judge Lewis's wife was my teacher. Along with teachers such as Ms. Coates, Ms. Bennett and Headmistress Ms. Blake. Also Headmistress Mrs. Cooke. Ms. Mamie Branch, Ms. Helen Goodwin, Ms. Jeannette Lovell etc. That is the era I am familiar with.
ReplyDeleteI was at the Antigua Girls High School from 1948-1956. I returned to England at that time. My name was Brenda Cockrell. Miss Wainwright was the headmistress at that time..she was very kind.Does anyone remember Katie Stamers the teacher for the first class? I think she hated her job lol..she struck terror in a child especially if they struggled with arithmatic! ask me how I know! I didnt know May Branch was headmistress at one point..she was our neighbour when we lived next to the Nook on st Marys street.She was a good friend of my mother..joyce cockrell. She gave me 3 glass xmas tree ornaments and i have them still through many moves..eventually settling in vancouver canada with my family. I would love to hear from anybody! brenda
ReplyDeleteI am Jennifer Maynard, of the second generation of three generations of Maynards who attended AGHS. It is a pity that this blog is not well populated.
ReplyDelete