Centenarian John Foster turned 107 on Monday.
And yesterday, with the usual sparkle in his eyes and the sharp wit for which he is known, he quipped to the MIDWEEK NATION: “I don’t have any dull moments. I sleep well, eat well and I behave well.”
The former health inspector of Pool, St John, celebrated the milestone with about 50 guests, including four generations of his offspring at a luncheon hosted in his honour at Waves Hotel in Paynes Bay, St James, last Sunday.
He was over the moon with glee, having his four sons Edward, Bernard, Sheldon and Roger, his caregiver present, as he sat listening to the pleasant things said about the father who “raised them well”.
“We (with Waple his late wife of 53 years) tried and I can say more or less we have been successful,” the jovial Foster said yesterday.
Remarking on the challenges with which young people today are grappling, he observed: “Our Bajan problem is love. Those old people, money they did not know, but they understood the secret of love. There was many an old woman who never bore a baby but she raised three or four in her district.
“We pack our children in high school and boast ‘our children in high school’. But they come out with certificates, they get a job that is supposed to start at seven o’clock and at seven o’clock they are at the bus stop waiting to get to work for seven o’clock.
“That is supposed to be a young intelligent man,” Foster said, but contended: “They are not as intelligent as they pretend to be.”
He compared that kind of irresponsible behaviour with “those days when there was Cuba, Panama, Curacao and Aruba and youngsters when they got the opportunity, they went away and came back and there were two things they used to do – bring something for the old woman that raised them and the first Sunday that they are back home, they went to church and sang praise and give a subscription to the church.
“Today, our big problem is that a lot of us do not acknowledge the Father,” Foster said, but he attributes his long life to “the Father who is keeping me here”, – the Father who he asserted “has promised me long life”.
The jovial centenarian is looking forward to more years, as he continues to enjoy a diet of “ground provisions, some fish” and to “keep a good mind”. (GC)