Pearnel Charles Sr shares nine decades of life-defining memories

At 90, Pearnel Charles Sr still has his hair half-black, half-white.

The trademark style that has travelled with him through decades of Jamaican politics, trade union battles, parliamentary debates, and Cabinet rooms remains firmly in place. On Sunday, one day before his 90th birthday, the veteran politician was dressed to match.

Crisp white shirt. Immaculate black trousers. Black jacket.

Charles looked good – very good – for a 90-year-old.

Inside his Elmwood Terrace home, however, it was not his clothes or his hair that told the story of the man. It was the memories. Moving carefully up and down the stairs, Charles stopped every so often to point out something – a piece of furniture, a koi pond, a photograph on a wall, a relative passing by. Each object seemed to open another chapter: a story about family; politics; about someone he had loved, and occasionally, a shorter story that seemed intended only for the ears he chose to hear it.

But before the political heavyweights of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) arrived to mark the milestone, Charles was reflective.

He was grateful.

“Of course, I am grateful. You know how many persons half my age dead long time? I am 90 on Monday,” Charles, a man who spent much of his life in the public eye.

The statement was strikingly simple and there was no grand declaration.

Just gratitude, and punctuated with memories of those who did not make it this far.

Among them was internationally celebrated athletics coach, the late Stephen Francis.

Francis and his brother spent part of their childhood in the Charles household, growing up alongside his children. He said Francis was not simply a renowned coach, he was family.

“Me and Gloria (Charles’ wife) were his parents,” he recalled, as he explained carrying the urn containing Francis’ remains at his recent funeral.

“So, of course, I am grateful,” Charles said.

He also remembered Francis’ brilliance with mathematics.

“He taught my daughter maths, right from a bed inside the house, so Michelle could make her way through Howard University,” Charles said.

Michelle, a dentist, would later serve as member of parliament for one of the constituencies her father once represented – St Thomas Eastern.

‘I have done my part’

At 90, Charles has become a living record of his own family tree.

Children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. He expressed pride at their achievements, individually and collectively.

During an operation months ago, Charles recalled waking up from surgery to find a room full of his doctors – his children.

He beamed at the memory.

His grandchildren also brought a smile, even though remembering the names of the younger ones was not always easy, but he knew exactly whose child they were.

Then came the joke that only Pearnel Charles Sr could deliver quite that way.

“This is the damage that I have done. I have contributed to the population,” he said.

It was a cheeky acknowledgement of the national conversation urging Jamaicans to have more children, and he had no problem taking credit.

“I have done my part.”

For him, family is not merely about numbers; it is about the work of raising them. He remains unapologetic about the discipline that defined his household. He and his wife, Gloria, he said, never quarrelled. In fact, he knew she was the woman for him almost immediately after they met and he proposed within hours. Together, they raised their children with rules that Charles remembers clearly.

“We told our children never to smoke ganja, and dig out their hand middle a roadside; that they should never carry a Rasta come in the house; and they should stay away from drinking. “Did they all obey?”

He had a ready answer.

“You see any Rasta among them?”

He laughed.

Nearby was the dining table around which the family gathered for meals – another physical reminder of a different era and of the family life Charles worked hard to build.

‘No rod was spared’

Charles believes parents have become too distant from the lives of their children and his recommendation is simple: “Be present.”

“Be involved, and when necessary, discipline them. My children know whose backside was going to get cut before I come home, enuh. No rod was spared in my house,” he told The Gleaner.

He is deeply sceptical of the modern restrictions placed on parents’ ability to discipline their children.

“I cannot imagine being told that I could not discipline my children the way I saw fit. They never got half of what I got, and look what it brought me. And look where they all are from what they got,” he said. There is no mistaking the pride behind the words.

For him, the success of his children and the generations that followed is among the greatest evidence that his approach worked. His family, he said, remains the love of his life – whether its members are in Jamaica or scattered overseas.

Then there is politics

While family occupied much of Sunday’s conversation, eventually the conversation turned to politics. He led the way to his study and proudly displayed a plaque commemorating his appointment by the governor general to act as prime minister in the absence of the prime minister. While the fine print revealing the date was difficult to make out, it did not matter. He stood beside the plaque with unmistakable pride. It was another reminder of the length and longevity of his public life.

The retired member of parliament, former Cabinet minister, former Speaker of the House of Representatives and veteran trade unionist has spent decades at the centre of Jamaica’s political story. And on his 90th birthday, politicians from across that story came to mark the occasion. Governor General Sir Patrick Allen sent a birthday gift but was unable to attend.

Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness was among the special guests, joined by several members of the current Cabinet, former Cabinet ministers and political figures across party lines.

ericavirtue@gleanerjm.com