I Zeal repersent for person like Mrs Ida Stewart, MAMMY JAMAICA

Mrs Ida Stewart's 121 Years Old. Mrs Stewart, who lives in Devon, a small community outside of Brown's Town, St. Ann, told local news reporter that she was born on November 5, 1886. This would make her 121 years old. Although she has lost her vision in one eye and the other one slowly going, Mrs Stewart was a gracious host and engaged local reporter with various stories of here life as a young girl growing up in St. Ann's. Apart from having some trouble hearing. Mrs Stewart is in good health and is able to move around here house. Her mind is sharp as a tack and seems to remember quit a lot. She is also very witty and sharp-tongued. When local reporters ask her if she was sure of date of birth, her quick response was "DEN IF U NUH TINK MI SURE WHY YU.. ASK MI DAT QUESTION?" She revealed that she was born in Longhill, which is a district a few miles up from Devon. She also revealed that she was married to Leonard Stewart on June 2, 1928, and moved to Devon shortly after. Her husband died in 1988 and the couple only daughter was born in the 1920s. Stewart's has nine grandchildren countless great grandchildren even a few great great grandchildren. though she only has one biological child , Stewart said, "mi only have one but mi raise a whole heap. Miss Ida as she is called, told the local news reporters that a lot as changed since her days as a young girl. She said " Is di first mi see seh people in di world change because dem doom to hell. Nuff a dem a di generation of vipers whe mi read bout in a di Bible. first time manners di deh wid children, none nuh deh again and every thing raise. every day price raise like aeroplane." Stewart said she held several jobs while she was young, many of them in Kingston. "di work whe mi do, missis, it nuff till mi can't even tell yu. She stated that her time on done this earth is done because these days or not for her. "My time done. Mi jus a watch and wait fi go to di place whe all mi love ones them gone. dis ya time a nu fi mi. Mi read dat man would leave them woman an go to man. Those people belong to the devil. A better day is coming. "She continued, "Nuff a whe mi read, mi see it a happen now. God seh we must be ready, so mi deh ready up mi self fi be wid God and anything whe nu right inna mi life mi a beg im correct it." Ms ida believes that her long life is a reward for the respect she showed her parents and how she lived her life. "Mi honour mi parents and mi neva box box bout wid mi body and mi love everybody, up to mi enemies dem. Mi married and mi put mi self inna di hands of god and him keep mi. Mi close to God ya now." According to the Guinness Book of Records, the world's oldest person is 114-year-old Edna Parker, who resides in Shelbyville, Indiana, USA. She tuned 144 last year guess the record has just been broken again by a Jamaican?
 

She is 10 years younger than she thought she was, but yesterday 112-year-old Ida Stewart learnt that while she was not the world's oldest person, she was close to being Jamaica's longest living citizen at this time.

For decades, Stewart, also known as 'Miss Ida', who lives in the cool climes of Devon in Alexandria, St Ann had been under the impression that she was born on November 5, 1886, as the one document which could verify that was unwittingly destroyed by an overzealous relative who was house cleaning.

Chief Executive Officer of the Registrar General's Department (RGD) Dr Patricia Holness (left) presents 112-year-old Ida Stewart with a copy of her birth certificate. The RGD head yesterday said Stewart was 'close to being the oldest person in Jamaica' based on the result of searches so far conducted.


Efforts by family members over the years to obtain a copy of her birth certificate from the Registrar General's Department to verify her age all proved fruitless, until the Observer featured Stewart on January 7 this year in a story examining the possibility of her being the world's oldest person after the death of Maria de Jesus, a Portuguese woman who had died a week before at age 115.

After a 15-hour search of genealogical records spanning three days, Miss Ida's true age came to fore.

"She is close to being the oldest person in Jamaica. She is 112. She was born November 13, 1896, revealed chief executive officer of the Registrar General's Department, Dr Patricia Holness, who yesterday presented Stewart with a copy of her birth certificate and family tree.

"We have gone through the records and we found that this family is a cultivating family. Miss Ida is from the second generation of newly freed slaves," said Holness.

Yesterday, Miss Ida held court in the cramped bedroom of her wattle and daub house, chatting gaily, cracking jokes to the delight of everyone present and repeating verses of songs from her still razor-sharp memory.

When Holness handed her the treasured certificate, a beaming Stewart could not resist a wisecrack or two.

"Then what this wi do now? she asked. "This going to carry mi to where? When mi dead mi caan carry dis wid mi," she prattled to the delight of her granddaughters and great grandsons who were sharing in the moment.

"Mi can't si it again," Stewart, who is now blind, said squinting, before referring to the birth certificates issued in her days. "It was tuppence (two pence) fi di red one and di blue one was free," she said.

Holness confirmed the information.

"You're still a young girl, Miss Ida," granddaughter Merna Benain quipped to more laughter from the happy group.

Holness, who said Stewart is "close to being the oldest person in Jamaica and among the top 10 oldest", said the RGD was aware of at least one other person who was older than Miss Ida but was reluctant to give further details.

"Mum is the word," she said.

After the euphoria had passed, Stewart confessed to the Observer that she was happy the mystery about her age had been cleared up.

"Mi feel alright," she said. "It (birth record) is something wantin, mi happy. Tings dear (expensive) now an mi nevah si di sense fi pay money an get it. Everything gone up pon hike so mi nuh si how fi go pay so much fi get paper."

Her grandson, Nigel Gaynor, told the Observer afterward: "She is very humorous and has a very good memory. We are rejoicing and grateful. Family members over the years have tried to get the information but were unsuccessful."

Stewart has outlived just about everyone she knew, including her 12 siblings, her husband Leonard, who died 20 years ago, and even her very own daughter who passed away in November at the grand old age of 86.

The senior citizen, whose horoscope many years ago said she would live to an old age and die well off, has often expressed a desire to leave this world behind. Yesterday, she repeated her wish to be in the "promised land".

"Dem yah days a nuh fi wi again," Stewart said, clutching her birth record carefully.

Source: Jamaica Observer 

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