Lucille Agatha London was born on December 28th, 1921 to Egbert and Elizabeth Nedd. She was the twelfth of her parents’ fourteen children, and was predeceased by all of her siblings. Born into a rural life in D’Edward Village, Berbice, Guyana, she and her family were staunch members of the Congregational Church.
She married Louis London in 1949, and bore him three children – Brenda Barrow, Donna Cadogan and Louis London. She also adopted and raised Carol Bowen. After graduating from the Berbice High School, she attended the then British Guiana Teachers’ Training College – graduating in 1944 – and set out on what would be a lifelong teaching career. During this career, she would variously be known as Teacher Babsy or Teacher London.
She pursued her teaching career across Guyana at Congregational and Roman Catholic schools; she taught on the West Coast Berbice, in New Amsterdam, Plaisance and Beterverwagting on the East Coast of Demerara, and in Georgetown. She rose through the ranks of her profession to become Head Teacher of some of the larger schools in the country, developing a reputation as a competitive and ultra-dedicated educator; thousands who “passed through her hands” have gone on to achieve success based on the foundation she helped lay. After retiring from teaching in Government service, she opened a private kindergarten school in Georgetown, Guyana, which she operated for almost a decade.
She migrated to the USA in 1983, and after a brief hiatus, restarted her teaching career in Brooklyn, NY. She eventually accepted a position with the City of New York and ultimately retired in the mid-1990s.
She was a phenomenal mother who encouraged all of her children to be academically and professionally successful, with a sense of personal commitment and family values. She was also insistent on a rounded experience for her kids, and they were all given the opportunity of formal musical training. More than all that, she was a homemaker, who cooked every day, baked bread every weekend and did all the household laundry.
Lucille Agatha London departed this life on Thursday, March 3rd, 2016. Mourning her passing are her children, Brenda, Donna (Michael), Louis and Carol (Janviere); her grandchildren Kathy-Ann, Michelle, James, Ashleigh and Allan; Her great grand-daughter, Merrily Michelle; many nephews nieces, cousins and other relatives. Her family will also be forever indebted to Joyce Claudette Pluck and Clarence David, who were her constant companions in her waning years. Many others, although unrelated by blood, nevertheless shared in her long and rich life, and to these the family will be eternally grateful.
