Ja’s oldest centenarian a mother to all

WESTERN BUREAU

Centenarian Nora Miller Welsh, a former head deaconess in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, is said to be Jamaica’s oldest living person, having reached her 110th birthday.

While she is now moving around through the use of a wheelchair, guided by caregivers, the devoted believer in the Bible was born March 28, 1914, and lives in the community of Wood Church Square in Blenheim, Hanover.

In recent years, the former head deaconess of the Seventh-day Adventist in Blenheim became bedridden and has no known illness other than a toe injury she is now nursing.

Affectionately called ‘Miss Nor’, she stands as the oldest person in her district, where she once operated a shop for several decades where the entire community and customers still have fond memories of her kindness and particularly the lasting taste of her grater cakes.

Her husband, Yulan Welsh, who was a cane-cutter, passed away in 2019 and was believed to be in his early 90s.

At 110, Miss Nor does not have any biological children of her own but is a proud supermother who helped to raise the children of her husband and a long list of children from the community.

Zelda Spence, 60-year-old caregiver for Miss Nora, said her love for people is natural and that she loved children unconditionally.

“She loves everybody, especially children. As a child, when I went to the shop, Miss Nor used to buy things for my parents. She would put a little extra on it and told us the extra is for me,” she said.

“If you buy saltfish from her, she would sell you what you came to buy for your parents, and then she cut an extra piece and give you, saying “This is [for] yourself’,” Spence recalled of the level of kindness and love shared by Jamaica’s oldest living person.

“When she makes grater cakes to sell in the shop, she ends up giving them away to the children in the community,” the centenarian’s caregiver recalled.

George Campbell, 64, who now resides in the United States, was among the many children Miller Welsh raised in her younger years.

Campbell told The Gleaner that he grew up in the care and protection of Jamaica’s supercentenarian since he was three months old, and it was not until his 25th birthday that he was made aware of who his biological mother was.

“If I should live over again, I would want to grow up with those same people because I was the most loved child in the world, “ Campbell said, referencing Miss Nor and her late husband.

According to Campbell, he has taken a decision never to wait until life is no more for his grandmother before celebrating her and telling her how much he appreciates her tender care.

“Since her 90th birthday, we have been celebrating her birthday every year and showering her with love,” he said.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com