Cen­te­nar­i­an Cath­leen Bernard is urg­ing those in­volved in crime to “put down the guns.”

Bernard, whose birth­date is reg­is­tered as March 29, 1923, how­ev­er, said it was an in­cor­rect birth­date reg­is­tered on her doc­u­ments. Her birth­date is in fact April 4, 1923.

She is very lu­cid and well-spo­ken and marked her 100th birth­day among fam­i­ly and friends on her spe­cial day at her Pleas­antville, San Fer­nan­do home.

Ac­cord­ing to a re­lease by the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Bernard cred­it­ed her longevi­ty to lov­ing God, be­ing kind and hat­ing no one but did ad­mit to drink­ing one to two bot­tles of Guin­ness per day and, on oth­er oc­ca­sions, a glass of vod­ka.

The moth­er and grand­moth­er of one not­ed that she was in­deed grate­ful to achieve the mile­stone.

“I thank God for reach­ing 100, be­ing of sound mind and body and can still take care of my­self af­ter God. I thank God for bless­ing me, for be­ing able to help my sis­ter raise her chil­dren, and to see them all grow up to be de­cent peo­ple”, Bernard said.

Bernard al­so ex­pressed con­cerns about the younger gen­er­a­tion and en­cour­aged them to put down their guns.

“Love God, every­one, and put your guns down, fol­low good words, do good, and make peace,” she said.

Bernard said she worked at Simp­son’s Fu­ner­al Home, a few restau­rants and “any­thing else that was avail­able and le­gal” to pro­vide for her­self and her fam­i­ly.

The Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices vis­it­ed and paid trib­ute to her.

The min­istry en­cour­ages peo­ple to join them as they recog­nise and salute the na­tion’s cen­te­nar­i­ans for recog­ni­tion un­der the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme.

Per­sons may vis­it the min­istry’s web­site at www.so­cial.gov.tt for more in­for­ma­tion or con­tact the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing at 623 – 2608; Ext 2001 to 2009 or 800-OPIC (6742).