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The petite woman, who is in good health apart from a slight hearing impairment, said she is the fourth of nine children for her father, William Ramsay, a balata bleeder.
She received her formal education at the Roman Catholic School in New Amsterdam and later the Light Town Primary on East Bank Berbice, but was forced to terminate her schooling to assist her younger siblings, who were left on their own when their parents had gone to the farm.
Her mother, Eliza David, who lived to age 87, worked on the breadfruit and cocoa cultivation plots as she, more often, had to singlehandedly care for her children as her father focused on his older children from a previous marriage, as their mother had died.
David said: “My mother had sent me to live with a friend in New Amsterdam, so that I could attend school but, a few months after, my father demanded that I return home.
“In those days, there was no electricity, the only transportation available was the boats which would transport us from Light Town to Stanleytown Stelling. From there, we walked to the New Amsterdam Market where the produce would be sold. If we did not get money to pay the boat, we would form ourselves in groups and walk the twelve miles trek to the town, where, after selling the provisions, we would buy groceries, before returning home.”
LADIES’ MAN
She admitted: “It was hard but I survived. I did not have an easy life from my mother’s home to my husband’s house, as he was a ladies’ man. My father had disapproved of the relationship but my husband pursued me anyhow. My father held out that he was not in favour. Nevertheless we married in 1937, without his presence and blessing. My husband, Albert King, a boat builder, a joiner and a farmer, died leaving me with nothing, just as my father had predicted.”
Following his death, being a childless widow, she alone cared for several nieces and nephews, assuming the role of a single parent, scrubbing floors and washing clothes for a shilling a month.
“I worked for seven persons but, when the money was counted at the end of the month, it was not plenty. However, I could have had the necessary essential items. Thank God, I did not have to pay a rent or electricity bill. The money now is many times more but you are limited in your buying,” she compared.
With a smile, she also remembered attending the annual school sports as a student of Light Town Primary, particularly the parade from her hometown to Friends Village a few miles away.
According to her recollection: “Being a nation under British rule, we would sing ‘Rule Britannia, Britain would never, never fail’, as we marched with the Union Jack proudly hoisted. There would be egg and spoon race and thread the needle race among others. Those were my favourites. After the sports, we would get ginger beer and buns before going home.”
Currently, Tanti lives at her Seventh Day Adventist sister after she had an accident in her home and suffered fractures to her left and right ribs.
Nevertheless when left alone, she washes her clothing and cooks for her adopted family.
She declared: “I like to do work. I don’t like to sit doing nothing. When they go out, I do my own washing. I can manage.”
SPECIAL SERVICE
In 2012, the Philadelphia Seventh Day Adventist Church in New Amsterdam held a special service dubbed ‘A time of celebration, adoration and praise’ for its oldest member.
The auditorium was decorated with gold and white streamers and balloons and the youngest member, Mr. Richard James, a fellow Berbician, reminded the invitees of the celebrant’s involvement in the church’s school feeding programme which commenced after there was a shortage of flour in the country.
King was baptised at the Light Town Seventh Day Adventist Church in 1957.
The special service was also graced by the presence of Director of Prisons Dale Erskine, who, jokingly reported that, on questioning King how she managed to bat to a hundred, she responded that she was not batting but keeping wicket.
Erskine and Colonel George Lewis had escorted the guest of honour, described by President of Guyana Teachers Union Colin Bynoe as the ‘Lady of Royalty’ and thereafter sat at the side of King, hailed by her fellow church members as a heroine.
Words and tokens of congratulations were also offered by elder and Probation Officer Mitford Warde and other well-wishers, and the one hour programme was punctuated with a poetic expression done by renowned poet Stephanie Bowry.
A musical rendition ‘You come this far by Faith’ by ‘All for Him Trio’ and a dance by the ‘Republicans’ were rendered before the conclusion, with the sticking of the birthday cake that was donated by the Guyana Prison Service.
A reception followed on the church lawns and that was also attended by the Ministerial Secretary of the Guyana Seventh Day Adventist, Pastor Malcom La Fleur, other officiating Ministers Osley Edwards, Alfred Charles, and Enoch Hamlington, along with Dr. John Austin, Superintendent of the New Amsterdam Prisons Carl Graham, and his Deputy Kevin Pilgrim.
