Gigi: some memories
by her sister, Mandy Ferguson
I can’t remember exactly how old I was when I started nagging Mum about wanting a little baby brother or sister – most likely sister. Maybe around 8? So there was great excitement when Gigi finally arrived, when I was around 11 and a half years old. I think she was a surprise, one of a few born in our very small street at that time. Hmm! A mystery there!
Gigi was born Giannina Miranda Gould on the 9th of December, 1964 at 6.22 pm in Melbourne Australia. Measuring 20 inches in length and weighing in at 8 and a half pounds, she was a well-rounded baby with a shock of black hair. A lively little baby, she was a bit difficult to settle at night. My job was to walk around and around and around the kitchen island bench, holding her and singing softly in her ear. I used to pretend, to myself, that she was my baby.
Gigi took to the water straight away and was a real water baby. It was always a delight to see her splashing in the local pool or frolicking in the sea. She continued this through her life, spending a number of her teenage years in a swimming training squad and competing in swimming carnivals. She very much enjoyed staying with the Fergusons at our beach property, catching up with the children who she dearly loved. Gigi twice competed in an ocean swim of 0.75 of a mile in the Pier to Pub race in Lorne, where we live.
Dancing was another activity that Gigi really took to, learning ballet, jazz ballet, contemporary dance and folk dancing at the National Theatre Ballet School and later at the Victorian College of the Arts. One of my fondest memories is of a little blondie, around 5 years old, dressed in a full, colourful skirt that Mum made, spinning and twirling to Mum’s Greek dancing music – full of the joy of Spring! After secondary education, Gigi studied a course in Notation or Choreology at the VCA and studied in London and Europe to extend her qualifications. For a short while she worked with the Australian Ballet Company. Gigi also had some ice-skating lessons for a short time.
A great lover of the Australian bush, Gigi loved Aussie animals, birds and plants. When visiting home, she would always take a number of bush walks to rejuvenate her spirit. I know she always missed Australia and her family very deeply, and she always kept up with Australian politics and events, communicating with her Aussie Facebook friends. She was very interested in Indigenous affairs. When I heard that she was travelling to New York I thought, “Give it 2 years … 3 tops!” I didn’t think she could ever leave her home country, but the allure of New York proved to be too strong.
Gigi’s next stage of her life involved meeting J W Johnson, getting married and having her beautiful boy Cameron Hugh Powell Johnson. She truly devoted herself to being a mother, engaging in many activities to inspire and develop her young son.
Later, when there was more time available when Cam went to school, Gigi engaged in further study of Anatomy and became a Pilates instructor, a personal trainer and a dance teacher.
I always admired Gigi’s strength of character, her dedication, her doggedness and her will. She always took such great care of herself – mind, body and soul – which makes her health problems so difficult to understand. It’s been so unfair! More recent times, particularly, have been very difficult and sad, for all the family. I don’t know quite how to “move on”, as people currently say. In life, you’re not supposed to lose your baby sister! And a young man is not supposed to lose his Mum! And a loving, dedicated husband is not supposed to lose his wife!
Fly high, Gigi!