| (By Mondale Smith)Not many Guyanese can say that they have seen five generations to attain the age of 100. In most cases those who made it, do not have all their faculties intact. Yesterday, Margret Alicia Hamilton called Granny, of 58 Joseph Pollydore Street, Lodge, celebrated this milestone with relatives who came from as far as Germany, London, the USA and Canada. The epitome of healthy living, Margret Hamilton mothered 13 children and is the proud grandmother of 44. She has 66 great-grand, 13 great-great grands and three great- great-great grandchildren. The one time housewife has never worked professionally, concentrating all her energies on raising her children to be positive contributors to society. She still kneads and bakes bread and makes a mean mauby which she shared yesterday with well-wishers at her 100th birth anniversary celebration. “I have never worn spectacles and I can do everything on my own. I see well too,” she proudly said. Void of any medical affliction she has only gone to the hospital once at age 99. “I didn’t think that I would see this day but to God be the glory because I’m comfortable,Cheap Jerseys, happy and I’m proud of my children and their families who are all committed and dedicated and disciplined. I have no major need.” Her only other surviving sibling, Charles Allicock, 95, is in Guyana and was among those who celebrated his sister’s milestone yesterday. Sharing fond memories, the matriarch glowingly recalled her years of growing up in the Demerara River community of Dalgin. The eldest of seven, she lived with her parents during the colonial era and is still nostalgic about Guyana’s eventual independence. “Guyana and I were all happy about the idea of being free of colonial rule and the celebrations were many. I remember walking from Water Street, to the Queen Victoria Park (National Park) with the crowd and watching the Union Jack being lowered and the Golden Arrow Head being hoisted. It was glorious.” Her father was the Catechist for the Anglican school while her mother was the head teacher. She recalled her days of having to paddle in a canoe alone on the Demerara River for about half an hour daily to get to school. “My parents were serious about education as I was with my children and I don’t regret it at all.” Three of her children are professionals each having two degrees and hold high offices in London, England and in Germany. Others are in Guyana and the USA. The eldest is Clyo, 78, who through his mother’s sternness earned a BA in social work in London.He now lives in Germany with his family. One daughter, Verley earned a first degree and subsequently her Masters in education, Social Policy and Sociology in London.She joined the medical field as an educator before returning to Guyana to be with her mother. Orin Hamilton, her youngest son, read for one degree in Guyana and another in the USA then became a banker who rose to managerial status before taking up employment with the United Nations. The others are also professionals who are married. “I did complete my secondary education despite moving to Georgetown at age 15. After my father died we lived in Alberttown with my mother’s sisters and grandfather who was the headmaster of the St Ambrose Anglican School.” With a smile of contentment Margret said, “It was quite a transformation from kerosene lamps and coals and paddling in a canoe to electricity in the house and being transported in a car.” So eye opening and bright was Georgetown that her family never moved back to Dalgin. At age 22 her hand was taken in marriage by Walter Hamilton, a senior transportation official at the Hamilton Transportation Service from the booming mining town of Linden. That union produced 13 children of which ten are alive. She says life with her husband was comfortable as he owned his own house, had a car and a public transportation bus “so we basically only travelled on the train when we were going on Sunday school treats, church outings and picnics.” Her husband retired and became chief motor transport inspector in town until he died at age 82. Most of her children were overseas studying. Margret Hamilton said that life was a bit tough at first but having her own property and with support from them life kept getting better.” Speaking of her longevity the very positive and assertive matriarch said, “I care myself and I eat properly. I love plantains and ground provision, generally with cow heel.” The woman whose typical day starts at about 6:30hrs, said, “I wake up, give God thanks for spared life, take a bath, get dressed and look for things to do around the house.” Though surrounded by relatives she still cooks and eventually settles at a window to the front of her home before tuning in to all the soap operas on television. “I like Young and the Restless and I also like making mauby; I like making my own bread with my hands as I did two weeks ago for church harvest.” She is the oldest member of the Trinity Methodist Church, having attended there for 70 years. Yesterday she was the guest of honour at a special thanksgiving service in her honour.She says some of the reasons she is happy is because she is always talking with God but is not a fanatic. She loves discipline and instilled that in her children.“Life is truly worthwhile living.”Even as she celebrates her birthday she is ever conscious of the importance of benevolence. Yesterday, too, she catered lunch for the children at Joshua House as is her annual practice.Full of energy she looks forward to many more years of health and strength but recalls her only hospital experience when she thought she was not going to make it to 100.“I had never been to the hospital before but that day I was rushed there because of an internal blockage that affected my lungs but after four days I was out and am now healthy, happy and contented.”While she has respect for doctors and medical professionals she has not had any reason to go to the doctor because “we ate healthy.”All of her children were born at home in Alberttown. She also lived in John Street before her husband bought her current home in Lodge.When we got this house on D’Urban Street it was not a tarred road and the area had more trees but now it has a lot of houses.Of her children she said “I was never fussy with them and neither did I make sport with them nor spoil them either.But I ensured that with the same measure I disciplined, I also showed that I cared.Comparing today’s youth to days of old she said that in her days “children had respect for all elders, did not walk on the road half naked and they went to church regularly. But now I don’t know what is happening.” |
