Myrtle McDonald
Welcome to the page designed for Myrtle McDonald.
This album tells about her life story. As well as her favorite pastimes, dreams and memories while living in Jamacia and Michigan.
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Myrtle McDonald was born on July 23,1934.She grew up in St.Anne, Jamaica. She was the 1st of 13 children born to Cleveland and Edna O'Sullivan. Her brothers and sisters names are Linda, Gloria, Joyce, Viviene, Marva, Hilda, Monica, Leith, Julith, Marlean, Roy, and Rupert. She grew up in the country. She lived with her grandma through the week while she attended school. She went home sunday evenings this was because she lived far from the school. She started kindergarten when she was 6 and as soon as she entered the 6th grade she only went for a week. It was because her father became sick. At the Age of 15 she moved to Kingston were she stayed with her aunt for a year. While living in Kingston, she met Royland McDonald. She had her first daugther Lynn when she was 17 she soon married Royland when she was 18. Her parents had to give consent for her to marry because she was young. Her children are Lynn, Derrick, Kirk, Ann, Barry, Wayne, and Randy. She came to the Detroit, Michigan in 1968. She worked for a family for 2 years taking care of a little girl.Then worked at St. Vincent De Paul society for 13 years. Her last job was the Rehab Insitute of Michigan. After 20 years she retired. She learned so much from working there. "Working there was a touching experience"
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One of Myrtle's Childhood memories is of her sitting under a big plum tree in St. Anne listening to the birds sing as they hopped from branch to branch. This is one of her favorite memories because she felt that the birds were singing to her.
Another one of her memories is of her when she would visit her grandfather on Sundays. They would sing together and he'd make her coffee and pudding. She remembered how her father liked to play the guitar and how her grandfather liked to play the flute. Together they would travel playing their insturments. She also remembers being really good at games. Teams would argue over what team she would be on because not only was she good at games she was the tallest. She remembered how she and some of her school friends played a game like baseball except instead of using a bat she used her hand. She also remembers being good at marbles and crickett. While growing up and playing games like crickett she remembered how boys and girls would play seperately. When the boys found out how good she was she started playing crickett with the boys.
"I was what you call a spiritual child"
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Her hobbies are reading books by Danielle Steel, because she can relate to her stories. She enjoyes reading history books.
Likes to sing, she sings in the choir at First Baptist of Detroit. She sings both saprano and alto. She doesn't have a favorite song. She likes R. Kelly's I believe I can fly and Nat King Cole. She also likes to listen to jazz music because its relaxing to her. She used to dance when she was younger. Her favorite dances are the waltz and ballroom dancing. In her spare time she enjoys gardening and being a house wife. Her favorite flower is a carnation. Her favorite movie is Babe and Asteroids. She likes comedy and movies based on astronomy. When growing up she wanted to become a Nurse or a Talior. She said if she could chose any occupation now, she would be an Astronomer. She would be an astronomer because she loves to look up at the sky and observe the stars. She recalls in 1951 looking into the sky in Jamacia and beging able to predict a hurricane. She says even today she opens up her door and looks into the heavens. Her friends today are Ruby and Mrs. Graham. She defines friendship as someone you can confide in. She likes all domestic animals. But her favorites are cats and dogs. Her favorite wild animals are lions and tigers. She dislikes crocodiles and aligators. She likes nature. If she could go anywhere she would go to Hawaii, The Virgin Islands, or Antigua. Her favorite colors are blue, purple, and gold. When telling us her favorite color was gold she laughed and said "I don't want to be rich but I want to be comfortable."
"Sometimes I open up my door and look into the heavens". I read one of Danille Steel's books, and it reminded me so much of my life that I cried. "I don't want to be rich but I want to be comfortable."
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Myrtle said when she first came to America it wasn't what she thought it would be. She thought that America was a clean place in terms of the environment. She thought America was mostly grassland. She laughed when she made the comment about seeing the big tire on 94 . Thinking... is this America?
She knew about the racial issues that it faced. Luckily, she never faced any discrimination. We asked her if she could met anyone famous who would she like to meet. She replied Bill Clinton.
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