Authors Note: I interviewed Jean Marks and wrote an article on what I found out. I was lucky enough to learn about the key moments of her life. Interviewing Jean was a great pleasure and her story was absolutely fascinating. I thank her for her co-operation, honesty and time and wish her all the best.
From Poverty to Success:
The Story of Jean Marks
From growing up in the deprived area of Peckham’s council estate, Jean Maude Marks, an 83-year-old woman, has recently sold her 20th property in Dubai after retiring from her primary career of being a landlord. She now travels around the world at least five times a year on luxurious cruises. Jean shares with us her story of tough upbringing, her romances and her success which makes her the inspirational and empowering woman she is today. She has defeated sexism, poverty and goes on to encourage people that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can be successful if you put your mind to it.
Growing up as the 5th youngest out of 7 siblings wasn’t always easy, it was full of fighting, squabbling and hair pulling. Despite all of this, times were especially tough for Jean due to the pure pressure of poverty and hunger. Her family would only be able to afford toast and jam for tea and if they were lucky, they’d have Spam for dinner. Too poor to carry on with education, she had to leave school at just 13 years old to go to work. Her first job began at a ‘Typing Pool’ which she describes as “a warehouse job”. “You would have to get there for 9am, go to a desk and write letters using a typewriter, then leave at 5”. Jean described this as “Soul Shattering”. As much as she detested this job, Jean knew she had no choice but to stick it out for the sake of her family even if it meant working in the freezing cold conditions. Every morning before she left for work, she would ensure that she’d put on her watch just to count down the hours until her 20-minute break. After a week’s work, she would receive her salary of just £1 and 2 shillings in which she gave the majority of to her family, leaving her with just half a sixpence to spend on a bar of chocolate at the sweetshop.
When following this monotonous routine, one day something changed, and little did she know that she would meet a very important man ‘Tom Parker’. During one of her work breaks, a man walked over to Jean being very full on, speaking crudely and Tom from a distance, saw Jean looking very uncomfortable. He immediately ran over to the man, clenched his fist then punched him square in the face which resulted in a fight. Unfortunately, that caused both Tom and Jean to lose their jobs however, it blossomed into her first love. “He was 25 when I met him, and I was 19, we were together for almost 2 years”. Soon after, Jean was left brokenhearted after he left her for an older woman. Jean was a beautiful young woman who was desperate to find love which wasn’t hard for her as she stole many boys’ hearts but felt that no one compared to Tom.
Tom was a mature young man who by then had served in the army for 5 years and was described as ‘the one’. Spending months trying to move on and get over him, she would get dressed up to go dancing every weekend to take her mind off him until she met another man.
After reflecting on her life, Jean recalls her best advice which she felt was the starting key to her success. “Try to speak with a nice tone which now I think I do”. Through growing up in Peckham, it was no surprise that Jean picked up the slang and spoke with a cockney accent. This disadvantaged her when trying to become successful as she wasn’t being taken as seriously as someone who would speak proper English. Her close friend, Dorothy Morgan, taught her how to speak well and how to articulate her words in a proper manner. She was a well-educated woman and slightly older than Jean. Dorothy wasn’t the only influence on Jean’s life, she expresses how her mum had made a huge impact on her success. “My mum was the happiest person I knew. She was always known for laughing and for not taking anything too seriously. We had a very close relationship and I used to always take her on holiday with me as a ‘thank you’ for everything she taught me”. Jean carried on explaining that happiness was the key to a successful life, nothing really mattered or meant anything if you weren’t truly happy.
As I sit in Jean’s lounge, I notice photos hanging on the wall. There is a photo of young girls sitting on a sandy beach on a hot summer’s day and the next photo along is a family on skis in the winter snow. She explains that they are her grandchildren and that was when they all went skiing in Bulgaria. She further expresses her passion in travelling and how she used to fly around the world with her family to explore new cultures. “I owned a few properties in Spain and made some business partners who are now lifelong friends of mine, Marie and Isabel”. As Marie has solely lived in Spain her whole life, Jean explains how she has difficulty understanding English and how Jean tried for many years to learn Spanish, but it was too difficult for her, but despite of the language barrier they are still inseparable. I ask Jean where the best place was, she had been on holiday and much to my surprise she replied with “Phuket in Thailand”. She went on to describe the live atmosphere of the city and how the people were so lovely which made her holiday complete. “They picked us up in the morning, took us on a boat and took us to different islands where we used to spend all day swimming”. Reflecting on her childhood, Jean remembers, “it must have been one of my first holidays as we were too poor to go on holiday when we were younger, we didn’t even go away for our honeymoon, we stayed at home”.
I am both intrigued and impressed of how far Jean has come from her childhood and how she has visibly grown as a person. She has pursued so much in her lifetime which makes me question what her earliest memory was. It came as a great surprise when she said she remembers as far back as being a toddler. She recalls being in her small, dark blue painted room which she shared with her two sisters and she walked past her white cot, towards the baby chair, sat down and all of a sudden, the chair collapsed. She can still hear her cries trying to call for her mother to come and comfort her. Feeling even more intrigued, I then ask her what her favourite memory was. At 9 years old and withdrawn from hospital Jean’s mum surprised her with a doll who looked just like her, with the same long brown pigtails as she had. Overwhelmed with joy, Jean had squeezed her mum so tight and felt so grateful as this was the first gift, she had ever received due to living in poverty and felt special over her siblings.
As I sit in Jean Marks’ conservatory, I observe the delicate flowers blossoming next to the white sofa and notice that in the middle of her glass dinner table there stands a bouquet of white roses in a crystal vase. The tall glass doors make it easy for me to see her green garden which is full of hanging plant-pots full of colourful flowers, apple trees and a huge willow tree. I realise that Jean Marks expresses her love of nature and life into her own home which gave me a greater understanding of who she is as a person. She is full of life.