Buxton’s oldest centenarian in the community, Evadney Talbot, was recently honoured and celebrated by Minister of Social Protection, Amna Ally along with family and friends as she achieved a new milestone by turning 107 years old.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) release stated that the minister joined the gathering of relatives and well-wishers at Evadney’s home at Company road, Buxton, for a religious ceremony in honour of the centenarian. She congratulated the village elder on her achievement.
“[Reaching] 107, that alone is an achievement. And when I heard that she was 107. I said that I’ll spare no pain to come to witness this celebration. I am sure she would’ve made a lot of contributions in the village,” Minister Ally said.
Every year, the children of Evadney Talbot gather at her home, where she lives with a full-time caregiver, to celebrate her birthday with an opening ceremony in the early afternoon and soothing music along with refreshments in the evening. This has been a family tradition since, Miss Talbot became a centenarian, seven years ago.
According to the DPI, Evadney Talbot was born in 1912 and spent all of her life in Central Buxton. She married Kingsel Talbot at a very young age and had five children. Her husband passed on fifty years ago and since then, her children have looked up to her as their only mentor and disciplinarian. Her oldest child today is 86 years old. Evadney also has the honour of having thirty-five grandchildren, forty great-grands and six great-great grands.
Before her marriage, she was well known for her home-made embroidery and dressmaking. Early in her marriage, Evadney assisted her husband in the back dam [farm lands] planting sugar cane and ground provisions. Raymond Talbot described his mother as a hard worker and someone who loves her vegetables. He deems her a role model for the young women in the village because she has always carried herself with respect.
Speaking of his grandmother’s impact in his life, her grandson, Cladwin Stoby said, “She has always been loving and I would love for her to live more so that we could get a lot of strength from her. From small, she has always treated us nice [and she is the same today]. Cladwin is also a grandfather and still recalls the values that his grandmother taught him as a child. “[The most important thing I learnt from her] is to be honest at all times.”
The centenarian received two food hampers, compliments of the President, David Granger, another from Ally herself and a bouquet of fresh flowers from the Minister of Education, Dr Nicolette Henry.
