Jamaican woman now world’s oldest person

Even after living 117 years, Jamaican Violet Mosse Brown is as fit as a horse, witty, humble and still hardworking.

Not once in her quiet life did she imagine landing in the world’s history books as the oldest woman, but she is overjoyed at having done so.

“I feel good, I feel happy to be the oldest person (in the world),” Mosse Brown, affectionately called Aunt V, told the Jamaica Observer newspaper.

Mosse Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900, entered the pages of history as the oldest person on Earth last Saturday, after the passing of the previous oldest, Italian Emma Morano, who was born on November 29, 1899.

“I did not feel I would become the oldest person. I feel I would pass long ago. Thank God for whatever He has given to me,” declared Mosse Brown, who remarkably suffers from no ailment.

Longevity seemingly runs in her genes. According to the Jamaica Observer, both her parents lived to 96 years old and her oldest son, Harold Fairweather, turned 97 on Saturday.

Mosse Brown jokes that she is healthier than Harold and her other four children.

“I had six children; one died, five alive, but them all sick. Them sick more than me,” she said with a laugh.

The supercentenarian, who still eats everything except chicken and pork, credits her long life to her deep faith in God and hard work.

She worked as a cane farmer and also operated the only bread shop in her community. Mosse Brown was also a music teacher and seamstress.

Her hard work was undergirded by her deep faith in God. At 13, she was baptised as a member of the Baptist church, serving in virtually every capacity.

“I spent all my time in the church – from a child right up,” she said.

Meanwhile, Jamaicans have been celebrating Mosse Brown’s achievement.

She has emerged a star in her Duanvale community, just a stone’s throw away from the hometown of track legend Usain Bolt.

“Trust me, we feel proud. That lady is great. She is good. She mek wi feel proud in the district as the oldest person in the world come from Duanvale here,” resident Renford Weir told the Jamaica Observer. (Caribbean360.com)