June Ida Isabelle Talbot was born on March 29, 1926 in the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital to Beatrice "Polly" Talbot.

In her younger years, "Polly" Talbot and her daughter, June, lived with her sister Gwendolyn Smith and her brother-in-law, Oscar Smith and their two daughters Grace (Mallory) and Dorothy Smith (Cann).

"Aunt Dorothy" and Mom grew up like sisters and were once dressed alike in their pretty pink outfits.

June attended the Central School now known as the Victor Scott School.

She won the Edmund Gibbons Scholarship from that institution to attend the Berkeley Institute, where she and her brother, Frederick Talbot were both students.

After graduation, her first job was as a bookkeeper at Clark's Tailor Shop.

In the evenings, she attended the Jean Jacques Commercial School where she studied Typing, Pitman Shorthand and Accounting. She also worked at the Deluxe Cleaners as a bookkeeper.

On April 11, 1950, June Ida Isabelle Talbot married Stanley Carrington Dowling, the love of her life and from this union were born two children, Waheedah Zarif-Walikraam CPS (nee Gloria Isabelle Dowling) and Bryan Stanley Talbot Dowling.

My Mom believed in visiting family overseas and at age four years I can remember wearing a beautiful blue dress to my birthday party at Aunt Mid and Uncle Thomas Corbett's house at 1014 9th Street in Washington, DC.

While there, Mom took my cousin, Jean Cann and I on a tour of the nation's Capitol where we visited the Lincoln Monument and other historic places of interest.

One day we went to a swimming pool and I climbed the highest springboard there and took a footer.

My mother could not swim very well and she was really scared. I was immediately enrolled in a Red Cross Swimming Course.

Later that year, my cousin Jean and I were taken to visit my Aunt Betty in Canada. We rode the Greyhound bus to get to Toronto from New York.

I have fond memories of my mother taking my brother and me to the Aquarium with my cousins, Sandra and Ken Simmons.

On Sundays, we were sent to the Church of God on Angle Street and Charles Jeffers used to come to the house and pick us up.

I had beautiful dresses for church with matching hats and as soon as I could get out of Mom's sight I would always take off that wretched hat with elastic under the chin.

My brother always looked the perfect gentleman in his little suits with bow ties.

If you ever knew my mother you would know that she was a do as I say not as I do person. June was a perfectionist and paid great attention to detail in everything she did.

Her T's were always crossed and her i's were always dotted. Friday nights we were given a special treat each of potato chips and a Cadbury chocolate.

Beds had to be made in the mornings and we were never sent to school without a good breakfast or our school lunches.

Occasionally, we were allowed to buy lunch at school. Mom was always there for us at our school plays and special events like sports days.

After her children were grown up, June went to work at Contours as a secretary and also held a night job as a cashier at the Clay House Inn in the evenings. I had my first summer job at Contours at age 12.

My brother would go to visit our cousins in Washington during the school vacations in the summer.

I was sent to the Jean Jacques Commercial School to learn Typing, Bookkeeping, English, French and Latin.

I had ballet lessons at the Jackson School of Dance from age six years and I was later certified in the Legat System at the School of Russian Ballet.

In her spare time, our mother loved to play bingo and watch games shows. She usually knew most of the answers to all of her favourite crossword puzzles but I could never figure them out.

Mom won many bowling trophies and she loved to travel with the Donald Smith tours. She was a great ballroom dancer and she learned all of her fancy footwork at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Hamilton.

In the late 1960's Mom joined the staff of the Bank of Bermuda as an accountant where she worked her way up to supervisor in the Trust Department.

She also acted as a courier for the bank. She was sent on many training courses during her tenure.

Her career in banking spanned some 25 years and on her retirement she went to work with Grosvenor Management Company as a Records Supervisor up to the time of her illness.

To her friends she was known as Junie, we called her Ma or Mom or Aunt Junie. She listened to the 11 a.m. Matins Broadcast from the Cathedral which later became the 10 a.m. Sung Eucharist Broadcast, every Sunday, without fail.

My brother, Bryan, was the light of her life. She was very proud when he went to the Munich Olympics in the 1970's.

When Bryan graduated with his Associate's Degree from Bishop State College in Mobile, Alabama, mother took me and her grandson, the late Andre Whitter, with her.

She was the proudest mother in the audience that day. She also attended his graduation at the University of Portales in New Mexico when he received his Bachelor of Science degree.

In later years, despite her condition, Mom managed to attend Bryan's graduation from the University of Syracuse where he received his MBA.

I returned to Bermuda on January 26, 2009 from the SGA Sunshine Classic in Costa Rica.

I rushed to my Mom's room at KEMH that evening with a bouquet of flowers and a card from myself, Bryan and Tariqah. She read the card and said it was very nice. "Mom, did you remember that I had to go to Costa Rica to play in a golf tournament?"

"Yes", she replied as a matter of fact. "I wrote it down in my book.

"Get the crossword puzzle", she said.

I had no clue what the answers were, as usual, but Mom managed to get two or three of them right.

She asked me to read the names of all the visitors that she had in the hospital. She had written them all down on the back of an envelope.

She said: "The Governor and his wife came to see me you know."

I replied: "That was really nice of them."

It has been a battle for our mother throughout her illness to stay strong and keep up the good fight despite the constant pain and lack of mobility.

Her mind was sharp to the very end. On Thursday evening (February 5) I took granddaughter, Tariqah Walikraam to visit Granny in the hospice for the last time.

I said, "Mom, Tariqah is here".

She opened her eyes very wide and said softly, "Tariqah, come here and let me see your face".

Tariqah went closer and they shared their last conversation together.

Our mother was as tough as nails. This was the fifth time she had been under respite care and four times she got up, walked out that door and went home.

I think June is a legend in her own time and there has definitely been nobody else like her on the planet.

I shall always remember the favourite whistle she used to call us at dinnertime when we were children.

Best friend Marjorie Grant reflected on childhood years spent with our mother and said, "We all grew up together on Church Street and we lived as a family."

Last year, my mother said to me: "I want you to write my obituary now so I can read what you are going to say about me."

I said, "No mother, you are not dead yet and I do not want to think about it right away."

Mom is out of her pain now and my brother and I and all of her family and friends will miss her terribly.

Dr. John Cressall, the doctors, nurses and staff of the KEMH, Agape House, We Care Home Service, as well as special caregiver, Mrs Betty Tuzo are to be commended for making our dear Mother comfortable in her last days.

June was predeceased by her grandson, the late Andre Carrington Whitter; mother, Beatrice (Polly) Talbot, and brother the late George Talbot.

June leaves to mourn her death her daughter, Waheedah Zarif-Walikraam CPS, (aka Gloria Dowling-Whitter), her son, Bryan Dowling; granddaughter, Tariqah Walikraam; sister, Betty Barclay and family; brother; Frederick (Freddy Bull) Talbot; godsons, Victor Bridgewater and Robert Cann; goddaughter Sandra Simons;

Numerous other siblings; special relatives and friends, Dorothy Cann and family, Marion Talbot, Gwendolyn Williams and her sister Darlene of the USA, Eugene Phillips, Juanita Minors of New York, Marjorie Grant, Gloria Simmons, Rose Tucker, Millicent Mills, Paulette Lim, Audrey Gordon, Fred Hassell, nieces, nephews and various other relatives and friends.

The family acknowledges with grateful appreciation all the courtesies, donations and condolences extended to them during their bereavement.

Your continued support and prayers are requested.