If you don’t think you have time to volunteer consider that Bernella Williams did it while raising eight sons and pursuing a nursing career.

Mrs Williams was one of several women honoured at the recent Cablevision Salute to Service Awards banquet held at the Fairmont Southampton Hotel this month.

Mrs Williams received the award for her heavy involvement with the Bermuda Institute when her sons were all students there.

She enjoyed helping the students with their reading and writing and made sure they looked neat. She baked anytime there was a bake sale, and would even help the teachers to grade papers.

“Sometimes I would be driving to school and would stop and pick up children along the way,” she said. “I had a big car and the little ones would sit in the trunk. Sometimes we would squash 12 children into the car. In those days you could do that.”

While many people today lament how hard it is to raise young boys, Mrs Williams managed to raise eight successful young men and send them all to college.

Her sons range in age from 37 to 20 and include two doctors, a lawyer, and an actuary, among other things.

“My youngest son is now 20 and in college, but it has not been easy,” said Mrs Williams, 67. Since 2001, she has been a single mother.

Although many of her sons received scholarships, she did have to take out her life insurance money to pay for some of their schooling.

“I have maintained my focus,” she said. “I said to myself ‘you have these children and you have to do something with them’. With eight boys, I had to make a path to make sure that everyone received an education and led a decent, respectable life. They are all doing very well so far.”

Mrs Williams said the secret is don’t wait until they can talk back to start teaching them what is right and wrong.

“Train them in the way they should do things,” she said. “Be the example for your child. Live above the table not under it. Sometimes you might have to do without things, but so what. Take your children to church, don’t send them. Surround them with good influences.”

Mrs Williams is originally from Antigua.

“Where I am from we didn’t have money,” she said.

“My mother left me and my brother with an aunt and came to Bermuda when I was three years old. We had work to do and could not be sitting on the side of the street.

“People would come to the house, you would help them and if you had anything you would give them but you couldn’t join in the gangs. The first time I came to Bermuda I was 11. In those days you weren’t allowed to bring your children so we had to go back home. When she got her status I was 15 and in boarding school. I finished boarding school and then I came here in 1966.”

She studied nursing in England and returned to Bermuda after her graduation in 1972. At this time, Mrs Williams became a nurse in the medical wards at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. For a couple of years she took a leave of absence from nursing to focus on raising her eight sons. During this time she actively led the Bermuda Institute Parents Teacher Association.

In the early 1990s she went back to nursing and took on an active role in the care of geriatrics, conducting house calls for elderly people in need. She acted as Shop Steward for her team in the Continuing Care Unit from 2002 to 2010 and continues to work with the elderly at the hospital today.

Mrs Williams has been a Member of the Continuing Care Specialised Group committee since 2010, and she has been an active member and volunteer at the Seventh Day Adventist Church. In 2011, Mrs. Williams was recognised by the Seventh Day Adventist Church for her dedication.

Her sons include Carlton, Bernell, Orlyn, Nevin, Dante, Shammah, Delmont and Vashon. She has two grandchildren.