'Aunt Joe' still going at 101

Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:She has no high blood pressure, remains in reasonably good health, has a sharp and witty memory, and at age 101, she still recalls the behaviour, order, and attitude that prevailed in her community while growing up in Paisley, St James.

Josephine Campbell, affectionately known as 'Aunt Joe', completed her century two Decembers ago, and recently when Western Focus visited her at her home at Melbourne Avenue, off the Salt Spring road in Montego Bay, it was the 1957 Kendall crash that was at the tip of her lips.

"Five persons in the yard I was living perished in that crash, and I was supposed to have gone, but I was spared," she stated.

Today, Aunt Joe, who was born on December 16, 1912, still wonders why she is still alive. "I am ready to go home, but God seems not to be ready for me," she told Western Focus.

When Aunt Joe looks around her, she is not all happy with what her country has become. She decries the lawlessness, indiscipline and permissiveness in the society, but she is not disheartened, having had the joy of living this long.

FAMILY LIFE

The daughter of Emilia and Joseph Favours, she was raised in a humble, close-knit family. Her siblings - four sisters and two brothers - have all predeceased her. Being the fifth child in the family, she remembers quite vividly supporting her parents in the home and in the field, where she enjoyed planting vegetables and flowers - and even planted yams and potatoes.

She attended school and church in Paisley. She recalls walking nine miles per day to attend school, and she could not be late because she feared the punishment for latecomers.

On the June 20, 1943, she married Clifford Campbell, now deceased. She had one son, Ranny Ruddock, and one daughter, Bibsie Campbell. Aunt Joe also assisted in caring for her nephew, Leonard Favours. She's blessed with two grandsons and two great-grandsons.

A number of the attendees at a recent celebration held in her honour could be seen embracing and hugging her as they expressed their gratitude and appreciation for her kind-heartedness and loving assistance which she provided to them while they were young. In return, Aunt Joe expressed appreciation that this event took place before she died.

Despite her age, she could recall events up to 70 years ago, and even mentioned the first individual who was privileged to drive a car in her district. She encouraged her young relatives to work hard, serve God and endeavour to be good citizens.

The younger ones were told to listen to their parents and teachers and be good children.

Unable to take care of herself without assistance, she said her life is made comfortable by caregivers, Stephanie and Anthony Fraser, who have been specially assigned by her son to take care of her.