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Grange unveils monument to supercentenarian Aunt V

Published:Friday | March 11, 2022 | 12:52 PM
Minister of Culture and Gender, Olivia Grange, unveils the monument to supercentenarian Violet Moss Brown in Duanvale, Trelawny on March 10, 2022. She was assisted by Mayor of Falmouth, Collen Gager (third left). Also sharing the moment are (from left to right) Councillor for the Sherwood Content Division, Dunstan Harper; Custos of Trelawny, Hugh Gentles; Sculptor, Pamrie Hall Dwyer; and Dr Beverly Davis Fray and Lelieth Palmer, granddaughters of Moss Brown. –Contributed photo.

Minister of Culture and Gender Olivia Grange on Thursday unveiled a monument in tribute to Violet Moss Brown, the Jamaican woman who was the record holder for the world's oldest living person and oldest living woman. 

The monument, which features a one-and-a-half life-size bust, has been erected in the community of Duanvale in Trelawny where Moss Brown, affectionately called Aunt V, lived.

“She had been recognised globally as the oldest verified living person in the world for the last five months of her long life; this meant that Aunt V was among the last of her age cohort who was born in the 19th century and the only living Jamaican who would have experienced the reign of Queen Victoria,” said Grange at the ceremony.

She added that Aunt V's long life “was an extraordinary achievement, deserving of the kind of recognition we gave her before her passing and now continue on this occasion, five years after [her passing]”.

Aunt V officially claimed the title of the world's Oldest Living Person on July 27, 2017, at the age of 117 years and 139 days old.  

At the time, Prime Minister Andrew Holness presented her with the Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation at her home.

The Ministry has also been working alongside the Trelawny Municipal Corporation to honour the supercentenarian.

Last September, the Ministry and the municipality installed a storyboard at her home on the fourth anniversary of her passing.  

Aunt V died on September 15, 2017 at the age of 117 years and 189 days.

Grange said she was careful to select March 10 — the 122nd anniversary of Aunt V's birth — for the unveiling of the monument.

The monument is part of a series to mark Jamaica's Diamond Jubilee.

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