Guyana’s latest centenarian continues to knit at her age

By Wendella Davidson

GUYANA’S newest centenarian Mrs Ruby Marie Mingo, who reached the glorious milestone on November 8, says it is her “undying love and faith in God” that has kept her going.

The mother of eight children, seven of whom are alive and who has outlived her seven siblings, is unlike many who had attained such an age: she knits scarves late into the night, reads her Bible and indulges in other pastimes.

To celebrate the achievement of this centenarian, her off-spring, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and other relatives, some of whom arrived from the United States and Canada, planned a grand birthday bash in her honour at the Umana Yana, Kingston, on Saturday, November 9, 2019. However, preceding the afternoon’s event, Mrs Mingo, a practising Seventh-Day Adventist, attended the Golden Grove Seventh-Day Adventist Church on the East Coast of Demerara, where she worships, for a special service; she was accompanied by all of her relatives.

In a pre-birthday interview with the Pepperpot Magazine, Mrs Mingo displayed a pleasant personality and enduring memory. This, despite disclosing that she suffers from health issues related to arthritis, circulation of the blood and has complete vision loss in the left eye, and that loves to knit.

She enjoys knitting as a late-night pastime and proudly showcased to this publication several completed shawls and others that are being put together. According to her, she intends to gift each of her visiting grandchildren with one of the items before they return overseas.

Her other hobbies are fixing puzzles, including a 100-piece of the brain teaser that adorns the wall of her Haslington home, reading the Bible and other educational books, and playing biblical crossword.

Born as the last of eight children to David Simon and Benona Marie, also called Nana Simon, at Gibraltar, a village on the Corentyne coast, she attended the Number 1 Primary School until Standard Six– as the classes were then known– when she left.

Childhood
Mrs Mingo recalled that her father died by drowning when she was still a toddler and how it was a struggle for her mom to single-handedly maintain the family. Nevertheless, her mother instilled in her and her siblings the value of education; her mother ensured too, that they arrived early at school, so they could say prayers, even if they were the only students present. She still wonders if those actions were as a result of her father’s death and her mother’s way of seeking God’s protection for them.

Another of her mother’s actions which she remembers, is of her being seated in an armchair– one of the favourite pieces of furniture that her father had bought for the house–and calling on her nightly to read a Psalm in the Bible, before going to bed. “As a result, I read all of the Psalms and knew many of them by heart; and she also taught us to be respectful to everyone,” she added.

On the latter, she recalled with a chuckle that although knowing her mother was not on speaking terms with a particular villager, she nevertheless had to say good morning every time she met the woman on the roadway, knowing very well the consequences if she didn’t.

According to Mrs Mingo, her mother subsequently sent her to live with an aunt in Georgetown, so that she could further her studies, as she was desirous of becoming a policewoman, a nurse or working with people; the arrangement, however, never worked out. The aunt, who had three children, instead of sending her to school had her doing housework and after nine months she returned home.

Tough decision
By then, two of her elder brothers, Cecil and Harold, were forced to leave school early to help support her mother. Her father before his death had bought a matapee and donkey and cart and used to do farming, in particular, cassava. So after his death, she began making cassava bread from scratch, baked pone and made cassareep, which were bought by people in the community. They also reaped an abundance of mangoes, bananas, and reared cows and sold the milk at three cents per pint. “Those were the days, sometimes people used to come to buy cent milk, too,” she said.

Mrs Mingo said she wanted to attend the Carnegie School of Home Economics, but with her mother not being able to support her, she at age 18 years moved to Springlands to live and work with an aunt, Anita Tyndall, whose husband had a good job. Subsequently, she secured a job of her own in New Amsterdam, working as a domestic with a “white” family, with the pay being five dollars a month without food and three dollars if meals were supplied.

From the money she earned, she was also able to save and buy a bicycle. It was while doing that job that she met her husband, Wilbert Mingo; Wilbert was then a young policeman whose job entailed he and others patrolling along the street where she worked daily.

“I really didn’t like him. He used to have his hat down in his face which looked like if it was powdered and I used to trouble him saying you only powdering up your face, you nah do the people wuk, and all he would do is smile,” she recalled humorously.

She said that there was another policeman who had shown interest in her as well, and whom she had liked, but it was policeman Mingo who was the aggressor and brought his parents to see her mother and proposed. “The other one who I really had liked didn’t talk marriage,” she repeated.

She at 24 years and Wilbert, 29, tied the knot and due to the husband’s job she lived in areas in all three counties of the country, among the places. They lived together for 49 years.

Mrs Mingo, who described her husband as a “very good man,’ said that despite the salary of the police being small, because she was thrifty she was able to save a little, throw box hands and ensure her children all got a good education.

A Canadian citizen, who has also visited the United States and Scotland, she is health-conscious, drinks lots of water and uses steamed food, but does not use salt.
Speaking of her feelings on the eve of her birthday, Mrs Mingo remarked: “Sometimes I don’t even remember my age, as some days I feel so agile and my hobbies keep me active. I also maintain a healthy relationship with God and his guiding hand along with the love bestowed by my children and all my other relatives, for which I am ever thankful, have helped me to achieve such a milestone.”

Although Mrs Mingo can do some chores for herself, her children have employed the services of two elderly helpers to assist.