At 100 years, Leone Catherine Querino is still the manager of her life. And every day, she thanks God for her family, good health and her independence.
During her birthday celebrations at her Hastings, Christ Church apartment on Tuesday, the upbeat mother of three told reporters that she was thankful she still had some autonomy.
“When I say my prayers every morning, I thank God for my blessings that allowed me to reach 100 years. I can still move around, a lot of people are lying in bed all day long and they can’t move around, but I can still do my thing,” Querino said with a huge smile.
Querino or LCQ, as she is affectionately known, had just finished a virtual conversation with Governor General Dame Sandra Mason.
She was surrounded by her three daughters, Sandra Querino Murphy, 75; Marcelyn Querino Racine, 71; Annette Querino Jenson, 69; her grandson Kristian Jenson and sons-in-law Peter Murphy and Basil Jenson who all spoke of Querino’s great spirit, and toasted to her kindness and health.
“I am very blessed to have them all around me,” LCQ told the Governor General.
Besides a minor hearing problem, the centenarian is in great shape, which she also tributes to a good diet which includes herbal tea, liver, sweet potato, salt fish, dolphin and flying fish. She does not drink alcohol or coffee.
“I don’t get depressed, I am very happy to be by myself. A lot of young people don’t care for themselves. I take care of myself because you are your own manager and you have to manage your life,” she added.
LCQ was born in Barbados and moved to Guadeloupe with her mother at a young age. She became fluent in French and English as a result.
She is a grandmother of six, and a great grandmother of 11 and previously worked as a hairdresser and owned the Hut Boutique.
Her business often led to her travelling to France and Canada to stock the boutique with “quality clothes”.
Querino Murphy credited her mother for instilling various values that she passed on to her children.
“Our values of faith, family, boundaries and very important in life those values stuck with us and I think we passed them on to our children,” the eldest daughter said. (TG)
