This week, Outlook begins a new feature, National Treasures...The Centenarians. Hear from our ölder heads", the 100-year-olds among us, as we journey down memory lane. They talk about love, marriage, life as they knew it then, and speak about life now. Read their experiences and see a Jamaica many of us can't even imagine.
BESIDES A hearing problem and a tinge of pain in the abdomen, 100-year-old Phillip Nathaniel Salmon is all the man he used to be. Mr. Salmon was born in Mocho, Trelawny on May 23, 1902 and has lived in Pike, Manchester, since 1934. He has survived two wives and has fathered 10 children from both unions. He has 25 grand children, 12 great-grand children and one great-great grandchild.
When the Outlook team arrived at his home, he was smartly dressed in shirt and tie and his hat and ready for his close-up. He greeted us with a smile. On our entry he rose from his seat and walked outside sans the help of a walking stick or of his family members and friends who surrounded him.
We were staring into the face of 100 years of history.
It is not very often that we see someone who is 100 years old, but this man looked not a day over 70. Indeed, he has good health. He is even able to read without glasses, but said he hardly goes to church anymore because he can't hear the sermon. His grandson, Canute, assisted us so he could hear the questions.
As a young man, farming was his profession. In fact, he admitted to Outlook that he stopped tending to his corn (I'm sure with lots of nagging from his children) only two years ago. "I grow sugar cane, banana..." he went on about his farming with a passion and fervour that is absent today when people speak of their jobs. His secret for living this long "Work hard, live long. The more you sweat is the more you live." And he has sweated. Walking four miles to and from the farm each day could not have been an easy task, and it was not only the walking: he tilled, he planted, he reaped something which he thinks the young people should still be doing today. "They should be farming, they don't want to farm. They have to know that farming is the head of the world, without farming the world can't go on."
This desire to work did not come about during his adult life. He was called 'Shepherd' by his father who could count on him to do anything. His father told him that he would leave him something special perhaps it is the long life that has had so far.
He vaguely remembers his school days but he is sure he went to Wait-a-Bit Elementary School in Trelawny. However, he knows that he is not pleased with Jamaica today. "The people are destroying the people too much. As a young man all those things never happened. First time better than now," he lamented.
He recalled Christmas in his days which he said had 'better pleasure'. "We used to play games, nice quality games like ball (cricket) and dominoes. They use to keep picnic and play music." When we asked him if he went to dance in his days, he must have misunderstood because he looked at us as if we were crazy "Mi nuh love dem dance ya".
His grandson, Canute, said his grandfather likes the luxuries that exist now. For example, taxis that stop at his gate. But, he is glad that some things remain the same. With all the changes, nine-nights remain the same. "Nothing don't wrong with nine-nights up to now. Nine-night is good." The centenarian recalled going to Kingston on the train, but said he doesn't know why they stopped running.
We tried to get a little personal with Mr. Salmon but he would have none of it. He laughed hysterically when we asked, "How did you go about courting?" He could not stop laughing. The only thing he told us was that he had to ask the father of his wife for permission to court her. "It gets lonely sometimes," he told Outlook. Although he has his sons close by (all his daughters live abroad) he has no friends remaining from his age-group. His grandson asked him if he wanted to remarry and after bursting into unbridled laughter, he said he would, but he hasn't seen the girl yet.
He has no recollection of Independence or Hurricane Gilbert, but he can recall his early days riding his donkey or his mule to and from his farm. His message for the young is: "Serve God".
He says, "After a hundred years there is still hope. God has been good to me. For the balance of my life, I hope to die and enter heaven, that's all I'm working towards now."
