The dynamic woman by now had added overseas travel, to source products and suppliers, to her long list of responsibilities. . And the older children had tasks, too. From an early age they worked in the business, the matriarch said. "They had to work. They had to sell, because it was just us," Pauline said. Don and Dave and Dion and Kevin would alternate days, she recollected. The others also fell in line as they came of age. The twins recalled spending time after school and on the weekends cashiering, selling and working on the payroll from as early as age nine. They remember, too, that it was fun.

"We grew up in and around the business," said Denise. "I can remember just being over there (at the bar on Prince Klaas Street) hanging around with my father. My sister and I would go ask him for sweet drinks and hear how the customers reacted and get the jokes." Donna recalled that the family business made them extremely popular; a fact that made her uncomfortable as a youngster.

"Besides always going down there and knowing that was pUtting food on our table, we were popular in school," she said. "That I didn't like, because everywhere we went it was, 'Miss Kennedy.' Everybody thought our last name was Kennedy. Everybody knew us, bUt we didn't know who they were.

"We grew up with (our parents) telling us that there must always be a Kennedy's. When we were younger I always looked at Antigua and Kennedy's as twins, and so we always put in all we have to put in - to ensure that this is always so," said Don. The kids were so good at helping out that, at times, they helped to take care of their extremely busy parents.

"I remember one day in the early 70s when Don was nine. (At that time) he would catch the bus and come from country down to assist us. One day, I'll never forget, he brought a bowl of macaroni and corn beef he had prepared because we had to work. Everyone felt so good," Pauline said, smiling at her son who was seated across from her and at the memory.

If it seems that Pauline was the engine around which the business worked, that is not necessarily true. She was careful to point out that it was a complete partnership between her husband and herself inirially, and then, as they matured, the children. Joe - her hero - she said, was the one with the vision. Her job was to help him realize his dreams.

"We didn't get advice from people. It was just us - him and I - and as long as he got an idea and we sat on it and I said let's go for it, it happened," Pauline said.

"I know from ever since they have been dedicated and hard workers," Denise said of her parents' efforts in the venture over the years. "When it came to the business, they did what they had to do and always went the extra mile. Even the hours they had to put in. They used to go 24 hours; they and my Uncle Novelle."

"My parents are extraordinary," Donna offered. "Take my father. He did not finish school in his day, and to see he had the brains to develop and think about this kind of thing - I don't think anybody out there would think he did not finish school. He has come so far with the business. And my mother is the icing on rhe cake. If he gets stuck, she is the one who gets him oUt. They are a perfect combination."