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Yoko Ono: John's still with me in spirit
Yoko Ono today recalled the tender relationship she shared with husband John Lennon and said she still felt his spirit with her 30 years after his death.
During a visit to his childhood home in Liverpool, Ono said: "He was a very sweet and gentle person at home, he would make an effort and he would say 'love is something you have to water every day'.
"I don't know how he knew this but I was lucky to have someone like that with me."
The legendary musician would have celebrated his 70th birthday on October 9 if his life had not been cut tragically short when he was shot outside his New York home in 1980, when he was aged just 40.
Ono said she felt Lennon was still assisting her in her various endeavours as artist, musician and peace campaigner.
She said: "I'm doing a lot of things now and I think 'well how am I doing it?' and I think that John's probably helping me."
In honour of his birthday Ono first visited Dovedale School in Liverpool where she also opened a new Sure Start children's centre.
Lennon attended both infants and junior school there - a fact marked by a hand-written entry detailing his name, address and date of birth in
the school's well-preserved ledger.
Ono, who was given a rapturous welcome by hundreds of Dovedale pupils, said she felt "very emotional" being at the school because she said her husband had talked about it many times as it was "where he started."
She also looked at some of the centre's facilities including a sensory room and a walking piano which she donated to the school after seeing it in the film Big.
After her visit she made her way to Mendips in Woolton, the semi-detached family home John shared with his aunt Mimi from 1945 to 1963.
She bought the house in 2003 and donated it to the National Trust so that it would be preserved in the same state as when Lennon lived there.
Describing her feelings visiting the house, Ono said: "Each time I come here I go into John's bedroom and it really makes me choke up because to know he was actually dreaming in such a small space but dreaming of the whole world and what he was going to do - I'm sure he knew on some subconscious level.
"It's nice for the children round here too, that they are now going to be creating the future for us."
Ono, wearing a white trilby hat and trademark tinted glasses, said it did not feel like 30 years since her husband's death but instead "feels like only yesterday he was here with me".
Ono will travel from her home in New York to Iceland on Lennon's birthday to light the Imagine Peace Tower.
She said it would be a day tinged with sadness but one that could also celebrate Lennon.
"I think we can celebrate what we're getting from him," she said, "and we are getting a lot.
"His sprit was so strong and is still strong and we do get a lot from listening to his music, listening to his words and actually the whole world is a better place for that.
"He was almost like a prophet in a sense, like the song Gimme Some Truth, just that title - Gimme Some Truth - is what we need now."
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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