Rosalie thanks God, but champagne ‘too strong’

SHE FELT GOOD and she thanked the Lord.

As Hurricane Maria brushed by the island, centenarian Rosalie Carlotta Cox was toasting her long life with her family and Acting Governor General Sir Philip Greaves at her 2nd Avenue, Hoyte’s Village, St James home yesterday.

“It’s too strong,” she said of her glass of champagne, prompting laughter from those present. She had earlier recited the Lord’s Prayer for her guests after being presented with a bouquet, a bottle of bubbly and a card from the Acting Governor General.

Cox now lives with her grandson Elvis Thompson, who told Sir Philip she raised him from a boy and now it was his time to return the favour.

Daughter Melda Hinds who, along with her brother Clem Cox was one of the centenarian’s two surviving children, said her mother had seven children and was now grandmother to eight.

“I would say she is a quiet person,” Hinds said, adding her mother worked at a plantation in St Peter, and was a regular church-goer at the Pentecostal Church in French Village, St Peter, until a few years ago.

She attributed her mother’s longevity to ground provisions.

“To me, she wasn’t the kind of person who was always sick. She was always fairly healthy,” she added. (HLE)