GEORGE HENRY, STAR Writer
Lebert Coley, son (left) and Stanley Carter (friend), flank David Coley the centenarian.
spaldings, clarendon:
David Coley is now 104 years old, but he remembers the 1907 earthquake that destroyed Kingston very clearly.
He recalled that he was only three years old when the earthquake occurred, shaking Kingston and other parts of Jamaica, killing scores of persons.
"I was at a sugar cane mill and had to run through a cane field at John Crow Gully in Trelawny. Several people ran away and left me in the swampy field when the earthquake shook, and I cried for several minutes," recalled the centenarian.
Coely was born on October 10, 1903 to George and Missy Coley, at Mocho, in Trelawny, and was the fourth of 10 children for his parents. He told THE STAR that his early education was acquired at the Wait-A-Bit Elementary School in that parish.
The centenarian is the only one alive of all his brothers and sisters, and is the only member of his family who lived to see 100 years or more.
Longevity comes from God
Coley said his longevity comes from God. The lover of white and blue vine yams, pork, mutton and fish, said now that he is up in age, he does not eat much of those foods anymore. He added that he no longer loves to eat a lot, but he eats a little of everything.
His son Lebert, 66, told THE STAR that his father has four children. He said the centenarian, who has a slight hearing problem, has never been ill over his many years. Lebert could only recall David doing an operation for hernia when he was about 80 years old.
He said his father was a member of the Lowe River United Church in Trelawny and that he was an active member.
David is said to be a praying man who also loves to sing, even at his current age.
The centenarian said he feels he can live another 10 to 15 years, because of his strength.
David, though confined to a wheelchair because of arthritis, still has good vision and speaks well. He also has a memory which can be compared to any young individual. All his faculties are still in tact, and his sense of reasoning still impresses many persons.
Stanley Carter, 95, a friend of the centenarian, said he has known David for all of his life, and noted that Coley was a peace maker. Carter said his old friend was a lover of 'many women' in his young days, and that he usually took very good care of them. David was said to be married twice and both wives predeceased him.
Carter recalled that he and Coley were good consumers of rum. However, according to Carter, Coley loved the rum called 'booty legger'. That rum, Carter said, was a potent liquor which could get one inebriated in very little time.
Real community man
Carter said that his centenarian friend was a real community man who was very kind-hearted and loving to everyone. "The only thing he did not give away was his life, how him kind," noted Carter jokingly.
His son Lebert said David was a wonderful father to all his children and even children who were not his. He added that David was a disciplinarian who when he spoke was taken most seriously, as he was a no-nonsense individual.
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