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By Javone Vickerie As my former English teacher told me once during a class “many of us grow old but only a selected few get to be 100 not out”. At the Gentle Women’s Association I met a remarkable woman on Friday whom I will remember for years to come.As a journalist, I am always ecstatic about interviewing centenarians because you get to know a lot more than what your parents or grandparents usually tell you about the past. I remembered one time a centenarian told me that he met the late President of Guyana, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. There are only a selected few Guyanese who met that man.So I was assigned to interview a woman by the name of Iris Cox who resided at the Gentle Women’s Association located on Brickdam, opposite the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company.Iris CoxSo there I was recorder, camera and notepad ready to record everything I needed to know about this woman whom I was elated to meet the day before her birthday.As I opened the door to her room there she was, sitting in a chair in front of the television while her head rested back in a comfy chair and her caretaker who welcomed me to sit and proceed with my interview.As anxious as I was to learn what she was in her younger days, the caretaker briefed me that this very frail lady suffered from memory loss and that I needed to keep asking her questions as her memory came back to her.“Mrs. Cox the guy from the newspaper is here to interview you for a special on your 100th birthday tomorrow (Friday) so you need to talk to them about your life, ok so be nice,” the caretaker told Ms. Cox.“Be nice” is not something I expected a caretaker to say but the words which came out of this woman’s mouth made me realize why she said that.“Who come to talk me? Why they come to mind me business, it deh in the archives let them check it there if they want know about me,” Mrs. Cox said in a very strong voice.At that moment this woman refused to speak to me stating that she was not in the mood to talk. After a few desperate tries Mrs. Cox told me that she could not remember most of her life but she remembered as a young girl she attended a Catholic School on Brickdam. The centenarian said that while at the school she studied in the field of Accounts and Business which she used in her field of work after school.“You got to see with me son I can’t remember things too good but I gon try and tell you as it come back to me,NFL Jerseys Wholesale,” Mrs. Cox said.The woman told me that after graduating from high school, she later found work at the Ministry of Finance where she worked as an accountant. “I remember sitting in an office and balancing books and checking on different accounts. I loved doing it as a job and I spent most of my time there,Air Max 97 For Sale Cheap,” the woman said.Mrs. Cox said that during her career in the accounting field,Cheap Jerseys, she met a “very handsome” young man whom she later married. They had one child. “Well I can’t remember how we met but I know he was a very good man to me,Nike Shox Clearance,” Mrs. Cox said.The woman who is originally from Bent Street, said that after the birth of her son,Nike Huarache Shoes For Sale, both she and husband moved back to the community where she lived but she decided to be a stay at home mother. “I had my son to take care of; my husband agreed that I should stay at home and be a house wife,” Mrs. Cox said.Mrs. Cox told me that while being a stay at home mother she found herself using her hands, sewing a number of outfits for herself and other’s which later became a business of her own.“I can’t remember anything else from my past”.Questions started to ring in my head as to why this woman resided at home and how long she has been a resident. The matron was not in at the time of my visit so I was not able to ascertain the facts I needed to know. I was told however that Mrs. Cox was known as one of the best seamstresses in her time.I also found out the whereabouts of her only son but getting him to answer my unanswered questions proved futile. I tried both office numbers and even resorted to leave my number with officials of the home; no calls were returned.In preparing for her photograph to be taken, Mrs. Cox had her caretaker apply make-up,Cheap Air Max 90 Men Shoes, red lip stick and a few fixtures to her hair. “I can’t give you a bright smile because muh teeth ain’t proper,” Mrs. Cox said. |
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