Media, Catholics mourn Dame June

UPDATE:

The media has lost one of its icons, June Gonsalves. So too has the Roman Catholic Church which she served with distinction and was rewarded by the Vatican with the Papal honour of being one of two Trinidadian women to be bestowed with the Lady of The Order of St Gregory The Great from Pope John Paul 11. The second recipient is Louise Horne. With the Order came the title Dame and, in the Church, she was referred to as Dame June Gonsalves.

Monsignor Christian Pereira who recommended both women for the Order, said he knew Gonsalves when she worked as secretary to the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin. He remembered her as “A very genteel woman, very strong and passionate in her faith. She was very competent in what she was doing and very committed to the education of the Catholic laity. She went around to different parts of the country, using Catholic schools as lecture halls to get her message across,” Pereira said in a telephone interview.

The renowned former announcer and the first female programme director at Radio Trinidad and in the world Redifussion network, died at her home in Anderson Terrace, Maraval, on Friday evening. She was 91.

She was the widow of the late distinguished national goalkeeper Joey Gonsalves, with whom she had two children, Teresa and Gerard.  She had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for the last seven years.

Former radio and television colleague Jones P Madeira remembered Gonsalves as "the consummate broadcaster," both on radio and television. “June was extremely pretty, and many people would have concentrated on her looks and be fooled by it. But she was one of the toughest programme directors I would have ever worked with.”

Madeira, who himself has had a distinguished career in all arms of the media, recalled that she had under her wing at the radio station in those days, people like Ken Gordon, Don Proudfoot, Trevor Mc Donald, Hazel Ward-Redman, Melina Scott, Barbara Assoon, among others who all brought discipline and standards to the fraternity.

Gonsalves joined Radio Trinidad in August 1956 and hosted the woman's programme, Listen Ladies. She was immortalised in a song titled June Gunpowder by calypsonian Lord Inventor who made fun of the recipes she shared on this programme.

She was also the voice of Mrs Frico on the promotional programme Frico For Me in the late 1950s. Madeira also recalled Gonsalves was not only studio bound but did outside broadcasts and went around to groceries or shops as they were called back then, to record the voices of people saying, “Frico for me.”

“Those (recordings) were played on the radio and if you were able to identify your own voice you would get a prize. I remember I had a friend who tried it in Arima and walked away with a lovely stereo set.”

Gonsalves became the Programme Director of Radio Trinidad in 1964 and resigned the position in April 1970, one week before the declaration of the State of Emergency at the height of the Black Power demonstrations.

After leaving broadcasting, Gonsalves who voiced the Catholic Forum of the Air, the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin encouraged her to serve as his secretary, which she did until his death in 2000.

Her daughter Teresa remembered her mother as more than a broadcaster, but one who dedicated her life to helping others. Teresa recalled that at age 16, when Gonsalves' father died, she had to shelve plans to study law and instead find work to assist with the care of her eight younger brothers and sisters.

Teresa said in addition to Gonsalves' work with the Church, she was also active with the Red Cross and the Blind Welfare Association. Teresa recalled her mother reading a geography book for the sightless and describing to them, a map, with perfection
“June was a perfectionist," Madeira agreed, saying her outside broadcast of a Carnival parade was akin to viewing it on television.

Teresa said she did not know how her mother drifted into radio and television but she had the distinction of carving the careers of so many people including the likes of Sir Trevor Mc Donald.
She said her mother was extremely proud and humbled to have received the national Hummingbird medal gold from the late President Noor Hassanali in 1992 and the papal order from former Archbishop Edward Gilbert in 2002. Among her treasured memories she said was meeting Pope John Paul II, as well as her interviews with notable international singers and Hollywood actors like Sammy Davis Jr, Sidney Pointer and Rock Hudson.

Funeral arrangements are yet to be finalised, “Because when someone dies on a weekend you cannot bury the dead because you cannot register the death with the Government. Everything is shut down, but the funeral should be early in the week,” Teresa said.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The media has lost one of its icons, June Gonsalves.

Gonsalves, the renowned former announcer and the first female programme director at Radio Trinidad and in the world Redifussion network, died at her home in Anderson Terrace, Maraval, on Friday evening. She was 91.

Gonsalves, the widow of the late distinguished goalkeeper Joey Gonsalves, had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years.

Former colleague Jones P Madeira remembered Gonsalves as "the consummate broadcaster", both on radio and television.

Gonsalves joined Radio Trinidad in August 1956 and hosted the woman's programme, Listen Ladies. She was immortalised in the song June Gunpowder by calypsonian Lord Inventor who made fun of the recipes she shared on this programme.

She was also the voice of "Mrs Frico" on the promotional programme Frico For Me in the late 1950s.

She became the programme director of Radio Trinidad in 1964 and resigned the position in April 1970, one week before the declaration of the state of emergency at the height of the Black Power demonstrations.

After leaving broadcasting,Gonsalves who voiced the Catholic Forum of the Air, on radio, served as secretary to the late Archbishop Anthony Pantin until his death in 2000.

Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced.