Features

A milestone of memories

By GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer

Ruth-Ann Thomas seated in her wheelchair at her 100th birthday celebration. - George Henry

Spaldings, Clarendon:

NOT MANY PERSONS in Jamaica have been blessed to live as long as a hundred years, but many have been able to see a few who have been blessed to see such a wonderful milestone.

Well, when the scores of family members and friends of Ruth-Ann Thomas of Nine Miles in Clarendon crammed into the auditorium at the Spaldings High School recently, it was to pay tribute to a woman who has not only been blessed by God with long years but also to show love to a 'woman of God' who has not only been an inspiration to many, but to one who has helped hundreds to make it in life.

Miss Ruth, as she is affectionately called, was born on April 17, 1905 to Hezekiah and Margaret Richards of Lesterfield in Clarendon. As time went by, three sisters and two brothers were added to the family. However, the family bond was disrupted when Margaret took sick and died when Ruth-Ann was only 12, leaving her and her siblings in the care of their father and their grandmother Elizabeth Effs.

Life became difficult and they were forced to leave Lesterfield to live in the home of their grandmother at Belcaris. Miss Ruth attended the Ritches Elementary School for a short time.

She had great aspirations for her siblings in her grandmother's care and the hardworking and industrious woman she was, saw her working to support them. She worked as a domestic helper in Spaldings with the late Maud McCauley before moving to the home of her in-laws at Nine Miles.

Ruth-Ann met and married Edward Thomas on January 26, 1926 when she was only 20 and he was 25. They both did farming to provide for the family, especially her brother-in-law, Herbert, who she sent to college after he had passed the third Jamaica Local Examination.

Ruth-Ann's mother Margaret was not blessed with a long life as her daughter, as she died when she was only 38. Her father Hezekiah died when he was 75. Of the 15 children her father had, Ruth is the eldest and is one of the two who are still alive. Her sister Estina Richards, 98, is the other.