Uton Samuels is a 109-y-o ‘cutting machine’

WESTERN BUREAU:

With no formal education, centenarian Uton Samuels is believed to be Jamaica’s second-oldest living person and Hanover’s oldest man. At 109 years old, he is still batting well, and, despite slight hearing challenges and joint pain, he enjoys being described as ‘a cutting machine’.

Born on June 14, 1914 to parents Cecilia Campbell and Etelbert Samuel in the community of Mount Piece, the centenarian, who now walks with the aid of a staff is only weeks shy of his 110th birthday, has declared himself the best cane-cutter who was around in his younger days when he was working at the then Tryall Estate in the parish.

On Friday, a team from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, led by portfolio minister Parnell Charles Jr, in recognition of Centenarians’ Day, visited Samuels at his Cousin Cove home, located near the shores of the Caribbean Sea, and presented a gift basket while sharing pleasantries with him and his family.

He also congratulated him for attaining this historic milestone while wishing him many more years and good health.

However, when The Gleaner news team visited a day later, Samuels said he had fun using his machete as a cane-cutter and that those he worked alongside were no match to him during his approximately 50 years going from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

Skilful and hardworking

“I murdered the two men, soft (in cane-cutting skills). No joke,” Samuels said as he recalled using his machete with much skill and precision that left other cane-cutters puzzled by how skilful and hardworking he was.

He said when the ‘busha’ stood aside and observed how he was able to cover much ground by himself, against two other cane-cutters, he was amazed.

“The two men working together can’t compare to Mr Samuels alone,” the super centenarian said while describing his abilities as a cutting machine.

A father of eight children and a member of the Cousins Cove Baptist Church, the centenarian was married to Etta Samuels, who died in 2005 at age 83.

For Samuels entire life, all he clearly remembered doing was working hard, doing so from his 12th birthday until he was not able to physically do that anymore.

Up to the past 10 years of his long life, he recalled that he was still swinging his machete on his own farm where he planted banana, plantain, vegetables, yam and other farm products as he continued to provide for his family.

Outside of planting domestic crops, Samuels invested in planting sugar cane which he sold to the West Indies Sugar Company, now Pan Caribbean Sugar Company Limited.

An avid lover of cricket, Samuels, who played the game for his Mount Piece community in his early days, recalled the days his team members would produce some good runs, many coming in sixes and fours.

“When it comes to football I am bitter about it. I tell you the truth when the man stays down at the (other end), spins round himself and let go (bowled) the ball and when me lick it, it goes up in the sky and then comes down when I am a young boy,” Samuels said, referencing the numerous boundaries he hit.

Although he was born in Mount Piece where he grew up with his parents, Samuels said they never allowed him to attend school like other children in the community and he was always at their feet doing everything but attending school.

“My father never sent me to school and I came and got eight children and everyone of them had to go to school,” he told The Gleaner. “I sat down with my father every day and saw other children going to school and I cried eye water, but thank God that I came and got children and everyone of them had to go to school.”

He said he was made to carry water for his grandparents, instead of getting an education.

Samuels is said to be among 10 other centenarians living in Hanover. But the only other centenarian that was born in 1934 is Nora Welsh, of Blenheim, who happens to be the oldest living person in Jamaica,

Everton Neil, one of Samuels’ grandchildren, said his grandfather was always working in the sugar cane industry.

“I am very happy to know that my grandfather is the second-oldest person in Jamaica and that I live to see it and now look forward to him creating more history across Jamaica and the wider world,” said Neil, who works as a Jamaica Union of Travellers Association (JUTA) operator.

He said his grandfather’s secret to long life could have come from unfertilised soil and from the sea.

“When it comes to what he eats, grandfather only eat ground provisions from the farm and everything from the sea, especially fish,” said Neil, who is also his caretaker.

“Ever since I knew my grandfather, he has been nothing less than hard working and caring. When he is on the Tryall Estate, my grandmother would prepare meals and give me to take for him and the other men working in the field,” he added.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com