CENTENARIAN CLAIRE JOSEPHINE NORRIS-DARBY CELEBRATES 102
Family and close friends gathered at the Port Antonio Methodist Church Hall recently to celebrate with Centenarian Josephine Norris-darby just as she reached the centenarian milestone, born March 16, 1924.
Claire who walks with a walker was full of smiles as she helped herself from the car to the church hall where friends and relatives greeted her. She is from Cooper’s Hill in the Fellowship area of the Rio Grande Valley and has joined another centenarian from Fellowship David Campbell (102). Affectionately called “Mamma” by all she is cared for, especially by her daughter Yvette Grant who tends to her daily needs.
Paulette Lawrence her daughter said “Mamma was alert and active and was born in the hills a district know as Cooper’s Hill where the air is fresh and there is a lot of birds. She grew up in a family of nine seven brother and two girls. She is the eight child and she was loved by her father and mother. She went to Cooper’s Hill School and learnt the poem about the butterfly. ‘Fairytale butterfly Fly butterfly, fly butterfly don’t waste your time away, I roam about all day with nothing to do but play; fly butterfly, fly butterfly’ (as Miss Claire joined Paulette in saying) ‘Edna Thaxter and Gladys Wright’ two of her school friends she remembered. They called her Abigail but that was not her right name so she said she wanted her real name Claire and this if not the last thing she wants to do before she dies is her real name. We had to go through all the rope to get Mamma’s real name. Her hobby is cooking and reading as she is an avid reader and reads her bible every day. She loves her church and her God and reads her bible.
I love my mother because she is such a warm, kind person and gives and gives and keeps on giving.
She was recognized by the King and the Governor General for reaching this milestone as a centenarian” as she read the citation and presented it to her along with her son Lascelles. Son-in-law Seman Lawrence serenaded her “God made you special” and “What a wonderful world”.
Lascelles Grant shared heartfelt words reflecting on his mother’s impact. “We had to be accountable to her when we went to school and Sunday school as we had to tell her the main text from Sunday School and the main message from church as we had to report to her” he reminisced.
“She was hardworking and always in the bushes. Mommy, you have left us with a treasure trove of wisdom and life lessons that we can pass on to the next generation about the issues of life,” Grant added. She attends the Port Antonio Methodist
church and as Lucille Palmer gave expressions from the church. “Sister Darby has not got up and preached one sermon but she has preached many sermons through the life she has lived in the church. She was that person you can speak to, approachable, that humility, that laugh, that smile and I don’t know if she has ever raised her voice. She encouraged us and was always present when we had any function and ready to go out when she was able so she has preached many sermons without going on the pulpit and is a true child of God and she has demonstrated in the life she has lived in and out of the church that God is number one in her life. Proverbs 3:16 to 18 says ‘Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is everyone that retaineth her’, she is a humble woman” she said in closing.
Her long-time friend Wilhell
Campbell said “I have known my dear beloved friend for many years. We grew up together, there are many things about us: we played, we sang and she was very kind-hearted. Her children and grandchildren will not be in want of anything as she will make the sacrifice. If they are in want of money she would provide it. She farmed in the Grant’s Level area dasheen, banana, and was loved in the district.
She loves her church, and her children as we have been friends since the sixties, and what she has she shares. We are together in the senior citizens club and I am very happy to be here as she celebrates her one hundredth birthday” she said. Louistan Gooden said “It is good to be alive and very good to be one hundred as there were four centenarians in the Fellowship area two have died and there are two still alive and you have joined them and it is real fortunate for me to know you. May you live to see and enjoy many more” he said.