‘Aunty Pat’ bids farewell to Jamaica
‘I just had a way with children ... and so it was natural [for me] when I came to Jamaica. I couldn’t keep away from children, I’m like the pied piper, when I walk out, children follow me.’
PATRICIA ‘ AUNTY Pat’ Gooden, acclaimed musician and performer, is set to reside in England after spending 57 years contributing to the nation’s development through the arts.
The 83-year-old, who was born i n Aberdeen, Scotland, first arrived in Jamaica in 1966, and has since been volunteering at children’s homes and serving as a mentor to the nation’s youth. She is set to leave on May 31 to live with her brother, James.
She outlined in an interview with The Gleaner yesterday how her passion for volunteer work blossomed at the age of 14 when she began working with special needs children, primarily those with Down syndrome, as well as those who are deaf and visually impaired.
“I just had a way with children ... and so it was natural [for me] when I came to Jamaica,” she said. “I couldn’t keep away from children, I’m like the pied piper, when I walk out, children follow me.”
Gooden, who is not a registered speech therapist, took courses so that she could assist children who had difficulty speaking because they were either autistic or diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
“When I was in university doing music, I also did four years as a side subject, working with – they termed it as – brain damaged children [where] speech was a very large part of it,” the esteemed singer, musician and actress said.
The music teacher and vocal coach was popularly known by her students as ‘Aunty Pat’, especially from the children’s radio programme ‘Colgate Cavity Fighters Club’ that was hosted by the late Neville ‘Uncle Nev’ Willoughby, which she was part of for 26 years.
“I can truly say I’ve had a love affair with Jamaica from the first morning I [woke] up here and saw my first real poinsettia,” she said.
She volunteered for over 20 years at the Mona Rehabilitation Centre, now known as the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre, helping individuals with their speech.
Over at the Maxfield Park Children’s Home, she offered over 27 years of her life, religiously spending four hours each Saturday working with children two years and older through music.
“We made quite a lot of money during the Christmas. We sang at plazas, we sang at King’s House, oh! we sang all over, it was wonderful,” she said of the choir she would later form with the children.
Aunty Pat believes strongly in the power of music, which she says allows children to express themselves. It, along with visual art, played a crucial role in her work with them, as it helped autistic children’s mechanical responses and gave children, particularly those living in children’s homes, “peace” and a sense of togetherness.