‘The day of my life’
US Ambassador Nick Perry recalls first time he saw his wife
THE minute Nick Perry saw Joyce Mahabeer he was smitten.
Fresh out of Kingston College (KC), Perry, now the United States ambassador to Jamaica, was working at Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU) when he had what he now says was the day of his life.
“I remember this was my first or second day [at the BITU]. University students were protesting, I can’t remember what about, but they marched from downtown pass the union hall and they attacked the union hall,” he told the Jamaica Observer in an exclusive interview.
“It was in the Easter time and I went to lunch at Gordon House, because those of us who worked at BITU had access to Gordon House and would have lunch in the dining room there; and on this day I was there waiting for my lunch and I saw this very beautiful Indian woman walk in and she attracted my attention,” Perry shared, his face lighting up in a smile.
“I had the opportunity to approach her and introduced myself. I asked her what school she went to and she told me she went to Buff Bay Academy and I told her I went to Kingston College and it didn’t have any impact on her. I had never had that response before,” he said, laughing at the memory.
“Ultimately I realised that because she grew up in rural Jamaica she didn’t know about KC, she knew about Titchfield [High School],” he said, pointing out that at the time she was working at the Ministry of Labour.
“That was the day of my life. I was not the kind of guy who could fall in love, but I don’t know what happened. But each day I got connected to her, and luckily for me she got connected to me,” Perry said.
The relationship blossomed and after Perry left Jamaica in 1971 for the United States where he joined the Army, the couple decided to tie the knot.
“We were planning to have a wedding with family and friends and all that but the priest would not marry us because she is Catholic and he didn’t know what I was, so we went to City Hall instead. We had a civil wedding,” he shared, adding that after the ceremony he went to work as they had no money for a honeymoon.
Now they are in their 52nd year of marriage and the twinkle in their eyes as they talk about their relationship tells of a lasting love that has also nurtured their daughter Novalie and son Nickolas, who are now adults.
