Eunice Kirton, one of Barbados’ newest centenarians, celebrated her 100th birthday on July 20, surrounded by the large family she raised and the community that has known her for a lifetime.
The milestone also included a visit from President The Most Honourable Jeffrey Bostic, followed by a family luncheon in her honour.
“She had ten of us – nine girls and a boy, but a girl passed away,” Eunice’s eldest daughter Coral Price said.
“So there are eight girls and a boy alive,” she added.
“She worked for many years at Jordan Plantation as a domestic but retired in the late 1970s and she was a housewife looking after grandchildren and so on,” Price recalled.
In 2018, Kirton lost a leg to complications from diabetes, but her spirit has stayed intact.
Even now her appetite and outlook remain strong, added Price.
“She eats well, she eats heartily,” she said.
Kirton was never one to sit still, according to her daughter, who said: “She worked hard, she liked to go and dig yams and potatoes and that kind of thing. She was always moving.”
Kirton has long been a devoted member of St George’s Parish Church, a connection that continues even though she can no longer attend services in person.
“Because of her leg and age, she can’t go to service in the way that she would like but the priests, they come once a month and visit and give her communion and so on,” Price explained.
Church attendance was simply a family expectation growing up.
“We were residing in the church, so we had to go to church,” Price said.
Kirton was educated at St Luke’s Girls’ School and spent her life in Eastlynne, St George, where she still resides and is cared for by her children.
Asked what kind of mother Kirton was, Price did not hesitate.
“She was a good mother and also fair. She never really beat us or anything. She was quite fair in that regard. We all got along well growing up,” she noted.
The celebrations for the centenarian continued the following weekend at a family luncheon held in Kirton’s honour on July 26 at Radisson Aquatica Resort. (DDS)