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Gwendolyn Violet Scarlett turns 100
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
TORONTO:
Gwendolyn Violet Scarlett has never been to the north pole, or the south for that matter, she did not discover Manchu Picchu, and she never did get the chance to ride the Titanic, she was just an infant then, born on December 4, 1909 to Eva and James Theodore Hastings in St. Elizabeth Jamaica.
On Friday, Gwendolyn Violet Scarlett turned 100 years old with her family and friends by her side celebrating at the nursing home where she currently resides in Scarborough and singing her favourite Jamaican folk tune — Long Time Gal, Me Never See You. Come Mek Me Hold You Hand. There were balloons, food, cake and many generations in the room.
Her nieces Joy Schroeter and Annette Charley-Sale came up from Jamaica especially to surprise her because, “she is a selfless person, always taking care of others.”
When her stepdaughters Coleen Scarlett and Judy Beaconsfield told her how old she was, Gwendolyn could not believe it. To look at her you would think that she is 80.
siblings
The ninth of ten children, Laura Kiziah, Esmeralda Adina, Olivine Rohama, Stanley Welsh Cornelius, Jereline Amanda, James Albert, Daniel Zachariah, Charles Alexander, oh, there was one more, and Gwendolyn Violet of course. ‘Gweny’, as her stepchildren came to call her, <span style="font-style: italic">is very fair, <span style="font-weight: bold">she could be mixed with Arawak Indian</span>, Jew, or is it German, Syrian, perhaps a little bit of East Indian, Spanish and British for sure and we mustn’t forget African. It was only 70 years earlier that the trans-atlantic slave trade was abolished.</span> Gwendolyn is a product of the world that came after that.
She was around during The Great Depression of the 1930’s, the spring of 1938 when sugar and dock workers in Jamaica rose in revolt, which led to the emergence of an organized labour movement and the founding of the People’s National Party (PNP). Five years later came the Jamaica Labour Party.
She didn’t start any wars, but lived through the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and Mussolini’s March on Rome in 1922. She lived through Gandhi, Pearl Harbour, Hiroshima and the first black man to win the 100 meters final, Jesse Owens.
cancer survivor
Gwendolyn is a housewife, a cancer survivor, has been married twice and never had any children of her own.
Though, she did raise other people’s children. She immigrated to Canada in her later years with her second husband Bunny Scarlett, the father of Coleen and Judy, who were adults by then. She would have been 54 years old when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Seventy-eight when the World Health Assembly approved the AIDS strategy and 81 when Nelson Mandela was freed.
She was 94 when Iraq was invaded and 99 when she saw the first black president of the United States.
Gwendolyn has since received certificates from the Governor General, Prime Minister and Premier of Canada, the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the Queen of England congratulating her on her 100 years.
‘Gweny’ Violet Scarlett has never discovered any lands, never governed any countries, but she has lived a life helping others and this was being reciprocated on her 100th birthday celebrated with her family and friends this past weekend.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
TORONTO:
Gwendolyn Violet Scarlett has never been to the north pole, or the south for that matter, she did not discover Manchu Picchu, and she never did get the chance to ride the Titanic, she was just an infant then, born on December 4, 1909 to Eva and James Theodore Hastings in St. Elizabeth Jamaica.
On Friday, Gwendolyn Violet Scarlett turned 100 years old with her family and friends by her side celebrating at the nursing home where she currently resides in Scarborough and singing her favourite Jamaican folk tune — Long Time Gal, Me Never See You. Come Mek Me Hold You Hand. There were balloons, food, cake and many generations in the room.
Her nieces Joy Schroeter and Annette Charley-Sale came up from Jamaica especially to surprise her because, “she is a selfless person, always taking care of others.”
When her stepdaughters Coleen Scarlett and Judy Beaconsfield told her how old she was, Gwendolyn could not believe it. To look at her you would think that she is 80.
siblings
The ninth of ten children, Laura Kiziah, Esmeralda Adina, Olivine Rohama, Stanley Welsh Cornelius, Jereline Amanda, James Albert, Daniel Zachariah, Charles Alexander, oh, there was one more, and Gwendolyn Violet of course. ‘Gweny’, as her stepchildren came to call her, <span style="font-style: italic">is very fair, <span style="font-weight: bold">she could be mixed with Arawak Indian</span>, Jew, or is it German, Syrian, perhaps a little bit of East Indian, Spanish and British for sure and we mustn’t forget African. It was only 70 years earlier that the trans-atlantic slave trade was abolished.</span> Gwendolyn is a product of the world that came after that.
She was around during The Great Depression of the 1930’s, the spring of 1938 when sugar and dock workers in Jamaica rose in revolt, which led to the emergence of an organized labour movement and the founding of the People’s National Party (PNP). Five years later came the Jamaica Labour Party.
She didn’t start any wars, but lived through the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and Mussolini’s March on Rome in 1922. She lived through Gandhi, Pearl Harbour, Hiroshima and the first black man to win the 100 meters final, Jesse Owens.
cancer survivor
Gwendolyn is a housewife, a cancer survivor, has been married twice and never had any children of her own.
Though, she did raise other people’s children. She immigrated to Canada in her later years with her second husband Bunny Scarlett, the father of Coleen and Judy, who were adults by then. She would have been 54 years old when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Seventy-eight when the World Health Assembly approved the AIDS strategy and 81 when Nelson Mandela was freed.
She was 94 when Iraq was invaded and 99 when she saw the first black president of the United States.
Gwendolyn has since received certificates from the Governor General, Prime Minister and Premier of Canada, the Prime Minister of Jamaica and the Queen of England congratulating her on her 100 years.
‘Gweny’ Violet Scarlett has never discovered any lands, never governed any countries, but she has lived a life helping others and this was being reciprocated on her 100th birthday celebrated with her family and friends this past weekend.
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