The coun­try’s most re­cent cen­te­nar­i­an is en­cour­ag­ing peo­ple to keep pray­ing.

“I live a hap­py life with God. Once per­sons do the right thing, they will too,” said Ms Is­la Nan­ton, who cel­e­brat­ed her 100th birth­day on Au­gust 25, 2022.

A res­i­dent at the Jofekell Home for Ma­ma and Pa­pa, the new cen­te­nar­i­an usu­al­ly spends her day colour­ing and pray­ing.  How­ev­er, to cel­e­brate her birth­day mile­stone, she found her­self singing joy­ful songs and rem­i­nisc­ing on the ‘good old days’ with her rel­a­tives and loved ones, as she was ho­n­oured un­der the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme.

Inspector of the Division of Ageing, Ernest Webster, presents to centenarian Ms Isla Nanton, a cake sponsored by the Kiss Baking Company. (Image courtesy Ministry of Social Development and Family Services)

Ms Is­la was vis­it­ed by In­spec­tor of the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing, Ernest Web­ster, who pre­sent­ed her with her Cer­tifi­cate of Achieve­ment and Ho­n­our.  Among the gifts she re­ceived for her spe­cial oc­ca­sion were a per­son­alised birth­day cake spon­sored by the Kiss Bak­ing Com­pa­ny, and two ham­pers spon­sored by NAMDE­V­CO and Jamieson, re­spec­tive­ly.

Is­la Nan­ton, fond­ly called ‘Miss Izzy’ and ‘Sweet Granny’, was born in St Vin­cent and moved to Trinidad when she was in her ear­ly twen­ties.  At present, she has four chil­dren, five grand­chil­dren and three great-grand­chil­dren, and con­sid­ers each and every one of them to be her biggest ac­com­plish­ment.

Ms Nanton’s daughter presents her mother with a thoughtful card during the celebration. (Image courtesy Ministry of Social Development and Family Services)

Her rel­a­tives de­scribe her as “the ide­al home­mak­er”.

“Ms Nan­ton was a hard work­er for her en­tire life. She worked hard to en­sure all of her chil­dren were ed­u­cat­ed. She spent most of her life as chief, cook and bot­tle­wash­er—the ide­al home­mak­er,” her rel­a­tives re­called.

They not­ed: “She would make tamarind balls, sug­ar cake and the best pi­geon peas ever!”

Dur­ing the cel­e­bra­tion, the cen­te­nar­i­an al­so took the time to im­part words of ad­vice to the younger gen­er­a­tion:

“My ad­vice is easy. Just pray, eat well and obey the rules,” Is­la Nan­ton said.

The Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme is an ini­tia­tive of the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, in which per­sons who have at­tained the age of 100 years and over are spe­cial­ly ho­n­oured.

Owner of Jofekell Home for Mama and Papa wishes Ms Isla Nanton a happy birthday. (Image courtesy Ministry of Social Development and Family Services)

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The Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices is en­cour­ag­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers and loved ones, Mem­bers of Par­lia­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment rep­re­sen­ta­tives, as well as friends and neigh­bours, to salute the cen­te­nar­i­ans in their midst by reg­is­ter­ing for them for the Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme.

Com­plete the on­line form or print a down­load­able form for com­ple­tion at the Min­istry’s web­site at:

www.so­cial.gov.tt

Com­plet­ed forms may be dropped off at the near­est So­cial Wel­fare Of­fice, or emailed to the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing at:

opic@so­cial.gov.tt

For more in­for­ma­tion, con­tact the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing at 623-2608 (Ext 2001 to 2009), or call 800-OPIC/6742.