…says many at his age can’t do some things he can do
John Rudder, also called “Johnny Walker”, of Islington, Greater New Amsterdam, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), celebrated his 101st birth anniversary on Wednesday last. Rudder was born on July 12, 1922, and grew up at Kortberaadt and in other villages on the East Bank of Berbice.
He attended the Friends Primary School, EBB, and after completing school at the age of 15, Rudder worked for several years at the Friends and Providence Estates, located then on the East Bank of Berbice. His first wife, Kulsum, passed away 68 years ago in childbirth. They had six children. Three years later, Rudder remarried after an aunt of his current wife brought him a proposal.
“She said, ‘I would bring my niece for you to get married to she’. So, I asked her, ‘Why?’, and she said that her shadow take me. ‘You seem to me like a good gentleman’. She did bring her niece. When I saw her for myself, she was fairly favoured,” Rudder said as he reminisced on his first time meeting the lady whom he later fell in love with.
Rudder and Margaret are still together today, and have four children. She is 95 years old.
Speaking on achieving the milestone, Rudder said he feels as strong as ever. “At 101 years, I am very proud to know that I am alive now without feeling a pain in my head, foot, or anywhere on my body. I am just ordinary, taking my meals regularly, and I feel my strength as if I am young again,” Rudder said.
