Meet June Swords Bower
Owner/Editor, The Women of Gloucester County

My early beginnings started in Philadelphia when I was just a little zygote. By the time I was a fetus, I had been carefully transported to a brand new ranch styled home in humble Clayton, NJ. Three months later I made my emergence into the world in the fall of 1952.

During this time, Clayton experienced a growth spurt with lots of new homes that were purchased with the new G.I. Bill for the veterans of World War II. My father snapped up one of the tract homes and was proud to say that he only paid $8,999.00 for it. As the homes were built, sold and occupied, the streets filled up with tons and tons of playmates. Needless to say, there was always something going on at any given time. That suited me to a tee because I was always interested in finding out what was going on….The who, what, when, where and why of things. Because of being inquisitive, my parents named me the News Reporter and suffered through all of my queries and news briefs, as did my siblings. They were the best informed family in the neighborhood.

I spent my kindergarten through 8th grade years in the public school system there where I excelled academically while the teachers hurried to find more work for me to do just to keep me occupied and quiet. It was a chore for them I am sorry to say. I spent my high school years at Gloucester Catholic where the buttoned-down environment encouraged self-control and obedience. Of all the lessons taught there, those were the ones that later shaped who I was to become.

As I recall my whole childhood and young adulthood, I was always in tune with the plight of women. Through personal experiences with the women in my life at that time, I became almost radical about making and demanding that things be better for us. Coinciding with my life was the Women’s Liberation Movement of the late 1960’s. It was everything I had always daydreamed about for all those years. But, my opinions were not necessarily welcomed, especially in my Archie Bunker familial and marital homes. This began the inner struggle and commitment to changing what I could that still motivates me to this day.

I graduated from Glassboro State College and have been a teacher off and on for more than 22 years. Through the years, I have been a Program Coordinator, Grant Administrator, grammar school teacher, Realtor, real estate manager and a teacher working with adults in the ABE/GED and computer literacy programs. The most gratifying career was working with adults because it gave me the opportunity to fulfill that desire to change the things that I could, especially in the women who I have had the pleasure to teach.

And now things have come full circle for me. I have once again reinvented myself. With The Women of Gloucester County online magazine, I am able to take this desire and reach out to so many more women. I am able to provide them with valuable resources that they may use to affect change in their lives. The WOGC provides an educational forum where ideas can be shared and cultivated. We are a community that nurtures each other and supports each other. I am truly grateful that this will allow my circle to become complete.