I Evolved When Opportunity Knocked

I was born in Dominica, West Indies; the island with 365 rivers of water.  Up until about a month before I was born, my parents were living on the island of Trinidad & Tobago.  Then, my father had to suddenly close his shipping business down, sell their home, and move back to Dominica for financial reasons.  My parents broke up shortly after.  Then, I was raised by my great grandmother until she left this earth when I was just 4 ½ years old.  My mother, who was already living in St. Croix working to make a way for me and my older sister and brother, flew over for the funeral and brought me back with her to St. Croix.  She enrolled me in Kindergarten at St. Patrick’s School in Frederiksted.  I remember being very scared, since I had just lost the person who was the love of my life, and now this person, who said she’s my mother is leaving me with strangers.   I gave the nuns quite a challenge of their lives back then, because I was kicking and screaming and very strong for a little girl.  They used to lock the doors every morning, while the other students watched me throw a tantrum for about 15 minutes banging on the door 3 days in a row, until I calmed down.  I have fond memories now of how loving and patient those nuns treated me back then.  The nun principals were not so nice, but most of the nun teachers were amazing for most of my grade school life at that school.

Things got more financially tough for my mother, so half way into the Fifth Grade, she enrolled me in a cheaper private school that was new to the island (Can’t remember the name – It used to be behind the old Brow Soda factory).  Then, she quickly saw it was not a secure environment for me, so she reluctantly sent me to Claude O. Markoe School starting in the summer months, to keep me from being too far behind when I started the Sixth Grade.  While there, I learned a little about music when I joined the marching band, which I believe prompted me to join the orchestra later after attending Central High School.  In high school, I saw myself peeling away like an onion slowly into whom I was becoming.  My mother then moved us to the new section in the Paradise Projects, so I got to make new friends and learn how to handle new and interesting neighbors.  I always loved to run races with my mother as a little girl, so in high school, I loved my Gym classes.  I experimented with gymnastics, loved flag football, sucked at basketball, and got euphoric after learning how to run 10 laps of track.  So, in the tenth grade, I was encouraged to run long-distance in track & field, which led me to compete in the ¾ mile run in Puerto Rico.  Meanwhile, I joined the orchestra and loved traveling around the island playing at fancy hotels, the government house, and our high school graduation ceremonies.  I also discovered that year that people enjoy hearing me read.  I did it at St. Patrick’s Church frequently when I was younger but thought people were just being kind to encourage me, and when my tenth grade English teacher loved the way I expressed one of his favorite poems so much that he had me read it in other English classes, it gave me a little more confidence in myself.

I believe those experiences have helped me in various areas of my adult life, and today I frequently read in my current church and enjoy how happy hundreds of members tell me they always look forward to hearing me read.  Which brings me to explaining why I ran and won the title of Miss St. Croix 1979-80.  I never believed I possessed any talent worthy of competing for anything, but I knew I wanted more out of life than what I saw around me.  So, when Mrs. Loraine Gibbs came to my job at FERST Inc. in Christiansted that November of 1979 and asked me to run for the title, I tried really hard to sell that excuse to her, but she said “You’re in luck, because this year is the International Year Of The Child, and the majority of the points will be based on the best speech instead of a talent, and I know you can do that.  Plus, think of the college money you can receive from winning.”   She knew that would get my attention, because she knew I was feverishly saving all my money to travel to Pennsylvania and attend College in January 1980.  Then, my boss, the employees, and other customers present all insisted I do it and how much they all vowed to help me in the process.  I was such a shy and naïve person back then.  I had never worn high heals or even know how to walk in them, but I had only 3 weeks to learn everything about pageantry, and God knows that’s an education to last a lifetime!  The series of events that followed including that winning night for me on December 12, 1979 is engraved in my memory bank.  Two of my most cherished duties as Miss St. Croix were escorting President Jimmy Carter’s mother and daughter from the red carpet at the Alexander Hamilton Airport to the Hotel On The Key in Christiansted, and the revolutionary experience of modeling on stage in Sunny Isle with the famous Ebony Fashion Fair models and Shayla Simpson as the most graceful and talented commentator ever!

That experience helped me to become one of the pioneers in helping to start as well as perform in a modeling club called La Original at Cheyney University, which is still functioning today.  I also won the modeling title of First Runner Up by one point less in the Miss La Ferry competition of Philadelphia shortly after attending Cheyney in 1980.  I didn’t even get a chance to practice like the other 30 contestants did for several weeks together.  That won me six free months of learning how to model in front of a camera.  What a turn my life took after I decided to get serious about what I came to college to do.  So, I graduated, got a good paying job with State Farm Insurance, got married to my college sweetheart, got involved in Network Marketing, got two wonderful and intelligent children – a handsome son and a beautiful daughter, and now my life seems to be peeling away some more.

As I mentioned before, I am a regular lector at my church.  In addition, I am currently the president of my State Farm Toastmasters Club after being in various other leadership positions and an active member for 32 years, an Enagic Distributor a.k.a. Kangen Water, a long-term member of a group called Families Together, and I am one of a few key United States Consultants in a huge international investment company called SkyWay Invest Group, which I am sure you will hear more about once it goes public in the near future.  My husband and I are referred to as empty nesters now, and I am actually very excited about the next stage in my life.  It looks like it just might attempt to top everything I’ve experienced so far.

My name is Roseline Volney.