Jean Parkinson of Gibsons is an amazing woman. Born just after the First World War she celebrated her 90th birthday on April 1. Blessed with good health and vitality that would put many of us to shame, her daughter, Julie Demmitt calls her mom, "Jean with the genes."
During her long life, Parkinson has seen service in the Armed Forces, wrote for a major Hong Kong newspaper and went to the University of British Columbia as a mature student to receive a degree in education. And did it all while raising five children. A Wren (a member of the Women's Royal Naval Service) during the Second World War in her native Britain, Parkinson's memories of that time are horrible. She recalled having a tiny child and the fear of the time. Her husband was an officer in Africa and was home only long enough to conceive his oldest daughter and then couldn't come home again for almost two years.
Parkinson said the only good thing to come of that time was the camaraderie of the British people. "Before the war people would ignore each other. The war changed that. After the war everyone went back to not speaking to each other again," she recalled.
After the war the Parkinsons went to West Africa and Hong Kong.
Jean remembered giving birth to her son Adrian in a hospital on the edge of the Sahara Desert. "I had to fly down to the Coast and then bring him home," she explained.
The trip from South Hampton in England to Hong Kong was a month-long effort on board ship. With four small children one can only imagine the treat that trip was.
Once settled in Hong Kong the children were taken care of by amahs (Chinese nursemaids), which freed up Jean to look for work. Not one to sit on her laurels she soon found a job on the South China Morning Post. And although much of her duties concerned covering charity functions she also had a court beat. She found some of the cases involving landlords fascinating. At that time (the mid-'50s) if a landlord wanted to tear down a building they would have to find accommodations for all their renters. No easy task, there were people in every square inch of every building.Parkinson was born a twin. The way she tells it her dad had quite a reaction when the doctor told him he had twin daughters. "He thought it was an April Fools joke," she laughed. Jean's mother, a "very patriotic lady" decided she would name the girls after two ferry boats commissioned the same year, the Daffodil and the Iris. Dad put his foot down and the girls were christened Jean and Joan. The girls never forgot their mother's desire -many years later when the elderly lady died at 99 the memorial wreath was irises and daffodils.
When her family immigrated to Canada in August 1960 she thought she would carve out a new career for herself. Soon after graduation from university she became a librarian in the Richmond school district and dedicated the next 20 years to advancing literacy in youngsters."I've had four lives -England, overseas, Canada and Gibsons," Parkinson said.
Her life since coming to Gibsons in 2003 to be closer to family has been one of fun. An avid bridge player, her wit and knowledge are an inspiration to people of any age. Impeccably dressed, her tall thin frame belies her years. This weekend more than 30 family members from B.C., Alberta and overseas will be on hand to celebrate this remarkable woman's birthday. "Jean will party as energetically as the youngest member of the family, a three-year-old grandson," Demmitt said about her mother. We should all be so lucky.
