Princess of Longdenville turns 106

WILLIAM Street, Longdenville in Chaguanas was alive with music on Sunday as villagers joined Culture Minister Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly in celebrating the 106th birthday of Princess William.

The very able William lit the candles on her cake and smiled as she greeted her visitors.

Newly sworn-in mayor of Chaguanas, Vandana Mohit, councillor Whitney Stevenson-Hamlet and alderman Puran Mangaroo also shared in the celebrations.

A smiling William hugged the minister and the mayor as they sang the Happy Birthday song for her. Gadsby-Dolly and Mohit brought flowers and cakes for William to share with her large family.

Gadsby-Dolly said her ministry keeps a record of the centenarians in TT.

“Princess was in the print media when she 102 and we took note of that. Now we are here for her 106th birthday celebration.” She said she thought it fit to honour William as it was her (William’s) children’s wish.

“They see her as one who has toiled long and hard and has lived a life of integrity worthy of honour,” Gadsby-Dolly said.

Her sister, singer Nakita Gadsby, sang Bette Midler’s song Wind Beneath My Wings while William blew out the candles and greeted her children and grandchildren.

William’s daughter, Jacqueline Richardson, 71, spoke about her mother saying she is a woman who prays constantly and maintains a healthy diet by eating vegetables and ground provisions. Richardson said she is now taking care of her mother and she thinks it is a blessing to have the opportunity to care for her.

“When we look around we see how people are dying at a young age, and here it is my mother is 106.”

Richardson recalls living in a carat house with a dirt floor in Tunapuna. She remembers her mother planting vegetables to feed her family and working for other people to get money to meet the needs of her family.

“There are those who will take their old parents and put them in homes and I think this is heartbreaking for those who have grown old to live with total strangers. They belong in their own homes with their children and grandchildren around to keep them happy,” Richardson said.

William told her well-wishers that one must not try to please man with what they do in life, but they must try to please God in all that they do and everything will fine. William is the mother of ten, grandmother of 60, great grandmother of 45, and great great great grandmother of eight.

She said her mother was born in Venezuela and was the eldest of 12 children. She spent her life as a domestic worker and cook working for the owners and managers of companies like Alstons Shipping and Rotoplastic. William Street is named after her. Mohit said she will have the street sign restored and will host a borough ceremony in honour of William who, she believes, may be the oldest person in the borough.