The Golden Girls

The sisters are the toast of Cumuto, a relatively peaceful district, west of Sangre Grande and south of Arima, which became popular as an American army base during the 1940s and 50s.

It’s an area the silvery-haired sisters have called home for much of their twilight years, having weathered many storms and experienced significant developments which shaped the social fabric of the country. The lovable, devout Roman Catholics have outlived their husbands, several family members and were only too willing to share their story of sacrifice, courage and determination.

Cared for by Selma Cadette, the elder of Edwards’ two surviving children and an occasional helper from the community, Edwards and Webster-Lardy live together in a modest, concrete house opposite the Cumuto RC Church, where they still worship on the times they are physically able to do so.

The sisters’ days are spent praying to their God, relaxing, listening to the news on television and poking fun at each-other.

“She can’t hear too good,” Webster- Hardy joked, pointing a finger at her sister.

Unconfirmed checks by Sunday Newsday revealed that theirs may very well be the first recorded case locally in which centenarian siblings have shared the same home over a prolonged period.

It’s a history-making feat Webster- Lardy would welcome.

“She has been saying that she wants to be in the news,” Selma joked, alluding to Webster- Lardy’s response when the idea of highlighting their story was first broached. The elder and feistier of the two sisters, Webster- Hardy celebrated her 105th birthday on Christmas Day and in keeping with tradition, there was much fanfare to mark the auspicious occasion. “The place was full with people. Everybody come across... plenty thing to eat,” she said enthusiastically, her Rosary dangling from her neck.

“I had three cakes. All the neighbours bring a cake.” Webster-Lardy said, however, she had no choice but to soak in the adulation.

“I have aches and pains all over, old age,” she joked.

For the most part, Webster- Lardy enjoys surprisingly good health, Selma said. “For her age, her heart is good and her cholesterol level is good. Her blood is good. She has nothing at all except a little arthritis,” she said.

Born in Santa Cruz to Paul and El Freda Webster, both of whom also lived to a ripe old age, Webster- Lardy is the first of three children, all girls.

Gotty Webster, who came after Webster-Lardy, died when she was just seven-years-old. Edwards, who turned 100 on October 21, was born in Todd’s Road, central Trinidad, in 1916, and was raised by a great aunt, Dolly Celestine.

Webster-Lardy told Sunday Newsday she grew up on a large agricultural estate owned by a German land owner in the community.

As a little girl, she attended Santa Cruz RC School, while her parents worked in various capacities on the estate. At school, she enjoyed a variety of games, including rounders and skip rope.

She also recalled being taken to school on horseback and later “in a buggy.” The family later moved to another agricultural estate in Longdenville owned by the German land owner before returning to Santa Cruz. After completing primary school, Webster-Lardy recalled she worked in a baker’s shop before landing a job with a wealthy businessman on an estate house.

She later ventured into Port-of- Spain where she found work in various reputable establishments, including Michael Llanos & Co.

Although her husband died when he was very young, Webster- Lardy said she enjoyed a happy married life.

She said the fact that the union bore no children was possibly God’s will.

Selma recalled her aunt, who now sports a short-cropped do, once had thick, long plaits that cascaded all the way to her waist.

“The husband had to help her plait it,” she jokingly recalled. “I figure it was the hair that had her thin but she gained a lot of weight over the years.” Unlike her sister, Edwards does not enjoy near perfect health.

She wears a catheter (urinary device) and experiences fluctuating blood pressure levels.

Edwards, who speaks in measured tones and enjoys looking at game shows on the television, opted for a quiet celebration for her birthday last October.

Having to trudge her way through thick mud to get to school, Edwards had an arduous life as a child in Todd’s Road.

Though the estate on which she lived produced abundant fruit, ground provisions, cocoa and coffee, it was often too much for her aging aunt to handle.

As such, she said they received frequent visits from family members who assisted with its maintenance.

“It was lonely in the bush so people would come in and stay a bit,” Edwards recalled. To compound matters, she said they also depended heavily on rain water and a nearby spring for cooking and washing.

“The old people worked hard in those days and that is why (Dr Eric) Williams freed them because he knew where they came from,” she said.

Her first ambition was to become a teacher but a late train caused her to miss a critical examination that would have enabled her to enter the profession.

“I liked a lot of reading in school and I was practising to be a teacher. I used to be in the infant department and when a teacher was short I would help out,” she said.

After school, Edwards went to San Fernando to learn sewing and later took a job at a Bermudez factory in Port-of-Spain.

However, she left the job prematurely to return to Todd’s Road to take care of her aunt who got gravely ill and subsequently passed away. Edwards and her husband, Lewis, whom she described as “poor but nice,” had four children but only two, Selma Cadette and Marilyn Edwards, are alive.

She is also proud of her three generations of grandchildren.

“I have plenty boys in the midst and just three girls. Not little boys but men,” she said of her grandchildren.

Asked what was her secret to long life, Edwards said: “I eat good as a child. We had a good garden.” She also spoke glowingly about the love and support of her daughter, other family members and care-givers. Saying the young people of today’s world need to behave themselves, Edwards noted many of them had far greater opportunities for education and employment than in her day.

She told Sunday Newsday: “They need to behave themselves and learn a trade or something.

In my day, when you were 15 years and in seventh standard, you had to leave school and fight your way but these children have plenty privilege.” Webster-Lardy regarded young people as “crazy” and indisciplined.

“The old people system different to now. Children long ago used to listen to their parents but not again. That have to change.” She related a story of how a friend of hers was forced to take a tough stance with her daughter after she frequently left the house with friends without telling her mother where she was going.

“I tell her (girl’s mother) that she should ring the police and you know the girl never go again,” she said. The sisters’ New Year’s wish was that people live decent, God-fearing lives without malice in their hearts.

For her part, Selma is hoping that the new year would bring her some relief in caring fulltime for her mother and aunt.

While she thoroughly enjoys their company and has their best interests at heart, she said she longs to visit family overseas and also craves some alone time.

Selma is hoping the Government, through the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services, would help by providing either a patient or geriatric care assistant for the centenarians either full-time or on a temporary basis.

“She really wants the help,” Edwards said.