The Tribune

By FELICITY INGRAHAM

RECENTLY, I was in the Seagrapes Shopping Plaza sitting in my car waiting on my passenger to return when I noticed the lady in the car next to me reading The Tribune. Her paper was opened to page 8, main section, and she was reading this column. I sat there for a moment, but something urged me to get out and introduce myself to her. She was reading the article I did on Metellus Chipman, an avid pigeon breeder and leader of “The Pigeon Nation”. She told me that her husband absolutely loves his pigeons and twice a day, like clockwork, they appear on their lawn to be fed. She told me about the beautiful show the pigeons put on and the lovely sound of their cooing and their wings. As we continued to talk, I found out that I was talking to a future focus of Face to Face – a woman who has contributed nearly 40 years of exemplary service in education to this country.

If you have ever driven down Jerome Avenue, you have noticed Toya’s Typing, because it’s a landmark - the two-storey yellow building which so many Bahamians, great and small, have passed through. As this senior educator who has touched the lives of some 7,000 students over her career prepares to retire, she sat down with me to share a glimpse into her life and service.

Anita Latoya Maycock-Johnson, better known as “Toya” was born in Farmer’s Cay, Exuma. She is the last of 17 children born to Lincoln and Zerline (nee Nixon) Maycock. Four of those children died in infancy, so the couple raised 13 children on the island. Her father had a passion for children and seeing them succeed through the pursuit of education. Originally from Ragged Island, Lincoln James Maycock was a carpenter who went to Exuma to work for a Colonel Lansing who owned an island in the Exuma chain.

Soon after, Lincoln embarked on a new career. He had always done above average in school and his former teacher Thomas Greenslade (father of former Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade) recommended him for the job to teach on Farmer’s Cay. At the time, there was no school house, so the children learned at the local church, St Mary’s Baptist, which was called the “meeting house”. Some of the members, however, did not want school being conducted there and eventually, Lincoln had to move his classroom and set up under a tamarind tree. He quickly put his building skills to use and built the first school on the Island.

This school did not come from government funding; he built it out of his own pocket. It wasn’t until he retired and left the island to move to Nassau that the government embarked upon the construction of a school.

“Even though he earned very little, this did not deter him from contributing his service and he has taught some of the most influential persons in The Bahamas,” she proudly shared.

Days in Farmer’s Cay were sublime. Her father was also a boat builder. He and his brother Carl made A class and B class boats for regattas that won many a race. On the weekends, Lincoln would pack the kids up in the boat – his children, nieces and nephews and other children on the island and take them touring through the Exuma cays.

“What you would pay big money for today, we were able to experience for free as children,” she recalled fondly.

“We would go to Musha Cay, Staniel Cay, Children’s Bay, Darvy Island, and Black Point. We would go crabbing and enjoy native fruit like cocoa plums, sea grapes and darling plums.”

Lincoln also had a beautiful white horse named Pocahontas and he rode it everywhere he went.

“Daddy taught me how to ride that horse,” she said.

“He taught me how to muzzle, mount and ride the horse. I remember when he taught me how to ride and squeeze my legs and say, ‘Whoa!’ when I was ready to stop. I mounted that horse and I was riding, riding but when I said, ‘Whoa’ the horse did not stop! He yelled for me to ‘Pull the muzzle!’ and it finally stopped. I will never forget that.”

By the summer of 1979 when Toya was 11 years old, the big family moved to New Providence where her father built a three-bedroom house on a Jerome Avenue property he had purchased from the Pyfroms. In Nassau, she first attended Pyfrom Secondary School, which is now CI Gibson Senior High. She then attended LW Young school which was on Mackey Street at the time near Bar 20 Corner.

Toya had dreams of working in office administration and wanted to attend a private school to do so, but her parents could not afford it. Not too far down the road from her school on Mackey Street, Toya found the answer – Warren Commercial School. There, Toya was set on a path that ended up defining the rest of her professional life. Eugenie “Lily” Warren, a native of Jamaica who called The Bahamas home, taught a variety of skills at her school including typing, bookkeeping, shorthand, knitting and crocheting.

The two gained an affinity for one another and in the summers when Lily would return to the mountains of Jamaica, she left her school in the care of Toya. She trained under Lily and earned $30 per week for running the summer programme. Eventually, Toya got an offer to join a real estate company for $75 per week.

While working there, Toya had a schoolmate named Sanrda who would constantly ask her to teach her how to type. Finally she obliged and on weekends, she would teach her friend the skill. From there, more and more people would ask her to teach them how to type, and they would bring friends who also wanted to learn.

The entrepreneurial bug bit her and she ended up leaving the real estate company and starting her own business. She advertised in The Tribune and The Nassau Guardian to attract the first set of students. The school’s success continued to come from consistent referrals that grew and grew as more and more Bahamians saw the skill as vital in enhancing their careers.

“I started with just four students around my dining table,” she said, “I ended up applying for a business licence and that is how it all began, and that was in 1980.”

A year later, Toya found it necessary to move the school from her Balfour Avenue home. She ended up renting the family homestead on Jerome Avenue for her business. Eventually, her proud father upon seeing her business flourish, added on the front section and then an upstairs portion, all of which still serve as the home of Toya’s Typing.

She received support not only from her father, but her loving husband Arnsel Johnson: “I met him while I was going to Warren Commercial School and we have been inseparable from then until now.”

Together, the Johnsons raised seven children: Bodine, Stuart, Ebony, Apryl, October, Zerline and Lincoln, and they also have one granddaughter, Aryauna Davis. Their eldest Bodine is the sensational singer and cultural performer who was recently named “Teacher of the Year” at LW Young Junior High.

When the pair met, Arnsel was a champion wrestler. He and his partner Edward Penn won many a successful match held at places like the Nassau Stadium, Bird Land on Mount Royal Avenue, and even in Freeport. They devoted their time to teaching the younger generation the art, however; they were not allowed to take it to the schools as they had dreamed. Arnsel was also a professional mechanic and carpenter and took good care of the family, which now lives in Winton Meadows.

Toya mainly worked alone as the teacher for her school and only one other teacher ever joined her, Yvonne Bastian, who worked with her for a while before going on to other pursuits. She does, however, have the support of her daughters Ebony and Zerline, who plan to continue evening classes when Toya retires very soon.

Great people have come out of Toyas Typing, and some of them were honoured at a 25th anniversary banquet, including: Supt. of Police and a recent subject of Face to Face Elaine Sands; senior executive in the Department of Public Service Remilda Knowles; hotellier Levita Fox-Roker; banker Monica Rolle; poet Mazell Knowles; Tourism Executive Tomeiko Williams-Davis Baker and entrepreneur Monette Auria Williams; and Minister Ruthmae Miller. Of the thousands who have learned typing and other secretarial skills from Toya’s Typing, more than 2,500 of them successfully attained Pitman certification, now the City and Guilds award, which is internationally accepted.

Toya has a long list of certifications, including a distinction in Pitman Typewriting I, II and III, the Royal Society of Arts Examinations Board, the College of The Bahamas and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI). She was awarded for her years of dedication by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and in 2014, she was awarded by Celebrating Women International at a gala banquet.

“I started teaching on the typewriter,” she shares.

“I had four manual typewriters to start with. We moved from manual to the electric typewriter, then to the electronic typewriter. From there, we gradually evolved to the word processor and now the computer. I remained relevant by continuing to learn new skills and seek certification in order to pass them on to my students.”

It’s been a rewarding career for her. One of the highlights that stands out to her is when her parents went to the hospital and police reservist Barbara Bethel met them, telling her that because of their daughter, she was able to gain permanent employment in the hospital. She then went out of her way to help the Maycocks. Another time, one of her students who became an entrepreneur was able to hire Toya’s daughter, which allowed her to fund her own college fees. As she prepares to retire, she plans to get back into gardening, a pastime she loves. She plans to spend time in her backyard garden and with her dogs, and growing spiritually.

She is currently writing a book that will give all the details of her life and her lineage. It is filled with photos as her father did an excellent job of archiving them, which she found in a trunk in Farmer’s Cay when he died. He even left recordings he made reel-to-reel, and Toya loves listening to them and hearing her father’s voice. She hopes that the book will serve as an important part of the capturing of Bahamian history and her life, one she feels has been well-lived.