Hard work, strict family values
Richard George and his wife Muriel, enjoy a boat ride on the celebration of his 103rd birthday on August 14, 2017
Richard George and his wife Muriel, enjoy a boat ride on the celebration of his 103rd birthday on August 14, 2017

–makes for a very long life, says 103-year-old Pomeroon farmer

By Ravena Gildharie
THERE’S an old proverb that says, “All work and no plays makes Jack a dull boy.” But for Mr Richard George of Grant Bailes Hope, in the Lower Pomeroon, hard work and less play can make a man happy, healthy and strong enough to celebrate his 103rd birthday, and

Richard George was born in Aruka, Barima/Waini

have high hopes of seeing lots more.

A man who never took to drinking, smoking or partying, George was born on August 14, 1914 in Aruka, Region One (Barima-Waini) and spent almost every day of his life working very hard on cocoa, coffee and coconut estates wherever he could find work, whether on the East Coast, East Bank, Abary or in the Pomeroon.
But when there was no work, he would spend time at hime with his family, as he was never interested in going to “every ‘tin-nin’ cup that knock.”

Though his hearing and eyesight are now challenged, George is still up and about, and even enjoys regular strolls through his farm as he reminisces on his “God-bless life” growing up in Georgetown and later in the Pomeroon, where he would relocate for good.
He and his wife, Muriel, now 84, have been together for 70 years, a union that bore them 14 children, eight of whom are still alive today; 75 grandchildren and approximately 43 greatgrandchildren.

“I am 19 years older than my wife,” Mr George said. “You see, she made an agreement with me back then that when I am old, she will be younger and strong enough to take care of me,” he added with a chuckle, which meant that he hadn’t lost his sense of humour. He’d just days before celebrated his birthday, so he was in high spirits.
He was born in Region One, the second of three children, and the only boy. Unfortunately, his father died when he was just seven, leaving his mother too distraught to care for the family.

A young Richard George

So, at the age of nine, he was taken in by a wealthy East Indian couple from Kitty, Sukree and Cecil Bissoondyal, who owned cocoa and coffee estates in the Aruka River.
He would attend school for over a year before eventually dropping out to do full-time gardening at a Land-of-Canaan plantation. As he grew older, he worked on estates along the East Coast of Demerara and Abary, some of which were either owned by his adopted parents or their relatives and friends. (420)

JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES
A kind of jack-of-all-trades, he at one time did a stint with Central Garage, here in the city, and even a bit of vulcanizing work on occasion.
“I did a little bit of everything… I remember working very hard, and to the best of my ability,” Mr George said, adding:

“I met a lot of people in my life, because the people who adopted me were well-known, and they used to have a lot of dinner parties with a lot of popular and wealthy people, so I became well-known too.”

Richard and Muriel George surrounded by their surviving children and some of their grandchildren

But as he grew older, so did his sense of adventure, and pretty soon, he was ready to move on. He was 25 when he left his parents’ home for the Pomeroon, where he found work on the coconut estates, but would return from time to time to the city to see how they were doing.

He was 34 when he met the love of his life, Muriel, who at the time worked with her parents at one of the coconut estates where he was employed. The two got married and together started a family of their own. They even worked together on several estates along the Pomeroon.

“I worked on the estates, picking and peeling a lot of coconuts,” Mr George recalled. “We produced a lot of coconuts; on one estate, we produced 22 million nuts a year,” he added.
He recalled working on one estate for 30 years until the owner died, and the surviving family migrated, causing management to suffer and the plantation to fall on hard times.
But on the advice of a friend, he used his legal clout and, with the help of a lawyer, successfully took control of the estate, where he and his wife and their extended family still live to this day.

MUCH MORE DEVELOPED
Said he: “Guyana is so much more developed now, and life is not as hard as it was back in those colonial days.
“People say today they are not getting enough money, but I think the money we are getting today is enough to live off of. Once you know how to live, you can live happy. Back then, you didn’t even know where the money went when you got it.”

As he went on to say, in those days, poor people couldn’t even afford to send their children to school to get an education, as the schools were a long way from home.
These day, however, he’s trying to take it easy. “I am now resting from work; I am resting my brains. But I sit many days, and I think of the people who adopted me and took me to Georgetown.

“I think of the good they did for me. I take the training from them, and from the Convent and my godmother and lived a God-bless life,” a sentimental George outlined.
Noting that his godmother, known only as Miss Marks, lived to the ripe old age of 127, George said he hopes he can live that long and even outdo her.
His wife, Muriel, said the couple shared a wonderful life and happy marriage, always working hard alongside each other.

“I used to burst and dig the nuts to make copra. I would make tea and send the children off to school before I started doing my work, and then heading home back to prepare lunch for the children.
“After I sent them back to school in the afternoon, I would go back to my peeling work. I had three or four children going to school then, too, so we worked hard,” Mrs George said.
She was drawn to her husband’s hardworking personality and his dedication to their union and family.

“He never drink or sport or party,” she recalled. “He used to say, ‘People like go to every tin-nin cup that knock, but not me; I am not like that.’”

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