Chapter Two : Survival in Penticton
Monique and her sisters had a very difficult time growing up in Penticton, B.C. According to their neighbors, Ted and Tammy, the girls were often in need. Tammy tells of how the famished girls would eat and sleep at her house when they were locked out of their own house for being a couple of minutes late.
Ted and Tammy volunteered as block parents and met with other block parents on occasion to share notes. They were appalled at how the girls were treated. They spoke of the hunger pains the girls complained of as well as clothing issues. Tammy felt that the girls needed professional help in dealing with events that transpired in Julie's home. The alchoholism affected Julie's ability to provide a safe home for them. Her fights with Gunther terrified the girls. The girls often huddled together crying as the adults had full-on brawls. Several times the girls landed in foster care as the police became increasingly involved.
Julie's punishments for the girls were pretty extreme also, After Jackie reported to Julie that she had been raped by the youth pastor of a church they attended, Jackie was promptly stripped naked and beaten with a 2 X 4. vJulie told Jackie that it must have been her own fault. Several times some of the girls were locked in the attic overnight without enough clothing or blankets for the intensely cold winters in Penticton. But most common was just being locked out of the house at night, forcing the child to ask a neighbor for help.
Years later Mel Dressler witnessed a weeping Monique, begging her grandmother to tell her why she let Julie take her when she knew Julie "was bad". Iowlyn responded with "she was your mother child" . When Monique tried to tell her of some of the abuses she was told not to talk about "those things". When Bridgette (Monique's older sister) was asked about this period she jumped out of the van and ran across the street. There she fell to her knees and sobbed for about five minuets. When she returned to the van she exclaimed, " whoa, I havn't been there in a while". All this time her children where in the back of the van worried about their mother. Bridgette added that "Julie was crazy, we moved out as soon as we could". Rachel had the traumatic experience of coming home from school one day only to find the house empty. Her mother had left and put the furniture in storage so she could pursue a man from England to get his money. Rachel had to live with a foster family for about six months or so. When her mother returned, Rachel got even by stealing seven thousand dollars from Julie's account with her ATM card.
Monique brought Mel Dressler (her husband at the time) to see her mother about four times. The first time they were invited for dinner, Monique marched into the kitchen, found all the food burnt on the stove, and attacked her mother. The battle was not pretty! The last time Monique took Mel to see her mother was after she was diagnosed with cancer. The meeting was more civil as Monique was trying to obtain information about her true father. Julie still would not admitt to Monique that Michael Parks was her father. But she did speak about him to her. " He was the "best dressed man in Montego Bay" was one of the comments, and " he owned a gold mine somewhere" was another while she turned a gold braclet on her wrist that she got from him.
This bracelet was really the only thing that Julie had that Monique wanted from her after her death, because it came from her father.
Ted and Tammy volunteered as block parents and met with other block parents on occasion to share notes. They were appalled at how the girls were treated. They spoke of the hunger pains the girls complained of as well as clothing issues. Tammy felt that the girls needed professional help in dealing with events that transpired in Julie's home. The alchoholism affected Julie's ability to provide a safe home for them. Her fights with Gunther terrified the girls. The girls often huddled together crying as the adults had full-on brawls. Several times the girls landed in foster care as the police became increasingly involved.
Julie's punishments for the girls were pretty extreme also, After Jackie reported to Julie that she had been raped by the youth pastor of a church they attended, Jackie was promptly stripped naked and beaten with a 2 X 4. vJulie told Jackie that it must have been her own fault. Several times some of the girls were locked in the attic overnight without enough clothing or blankets for the intensely cold winters in Penticton. But most common was just being locked out of the house at night, forcing the child to ask a neighbor for help.
Years later Mel Dressler witnessed a weeping Monique, begging her grandmother to tell her why she let Julie take her when she knew Julie "was bad". Iowlyn responded with "she was your mother child" . When Monique tried to tell her of some of the abuses she was told not to talk about "those things". When Bridgette (Monique's older sister) was asked about this period she jumped out of the van and ran across the street. There she fell to her knees and sobbed for about five minuets. When she returned to the van she exclaimed, " whoa, I havn't been there in a while". All this time her children where in the back of the van worried about their mother. Bridgette added that "Julie was crazy, we moved out as soon as we could". Rachel had the traumatic experience of coming home from school one day only to find the house empty. Her mother had left and put the furniture in storage so she could pursue a man from England to get his money. Rachel had to live with a foster family for about six months or so. When her mother returned, Rachel got even by stealing seven thousand dollars from Julie's account with her ATM card.
Monique brought Mel Dressler (her husband at the time) to see her mother about four times. The first time they were invited for dinner, Monique marched into the kitchen, found all the food burnt on the stove, and attacked her mother. The battle was not pretty! The last time Monique took Mel to see her mother was after she was diagnosed with cancer. The meeting was more civil as Monique was trying to obtain information about her true father. Julie still would not admitt to Monique that Michael Parks was her father. But she did speak about him to her. " He was the "best dressed man in Montego Bay" was one of the comments, and " he owned a gold mine somewhere" was another while she turned a gold braclet on her wrist that she got from him.
This bracelet was really the only thing that Julie had that Monique wanted from her after her death, because it came from her father.
posted by < Elise and Mel Dressler> at 9:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home