105-y-o weathered Cat 5 Melissa in outdoor bathroom
Published:Wednesday | February 4, 2026 | 12:14 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
As Hurricane Melissa tore roofs from homes and shattered windows last October, centenarian Vera Brown – partially blind, deaf and almost entirely non-verbal – rode out the Category 5 monster in an outdoor bathroom, emerging not just alive, but unbroken, a living testament to quiet courage, endurance and a century of survival.
That courage was tested three months before a simple celebration of life on Saturday, January 24, ahead of her actual birthday of Tuesday, January 27.
Brown, who lives in Cambridge, St James, was at home with her caregiver, Verna James, when Hurricane Melissa bore down on the island, ripping through communities with violent winds and rain. Sections of the centenarian’s house were damaged as the storm intensified, forcing a split-second decision that likely saved her life.
James recalled that Brown did not initially grasp the severity of the danger.
“Miss Vera did not really understand what the situation was about until I showed her when the roof started coming off, and I said, ‘Come, we have to go outside there in the bathroom, and I held her and carried her out to the bathroom. We were in there for about two and a half hours,” James recounted.
“She was not scared or anything, because as the storm started, I took her out, and we went right behind the fridge, and the kitchen window started shattering, and that was when we went inside the bathroom area,” said James.
EARLY YEARS
Born on January 27, 1921, in Falmouth, Trelawny, to parents Theophilus Lamont and Alice Ruddock, Brown later relocated to Catadupa, St James, at age 20.
In 1950, she married Antonio Brown, now deceased, and together they raised 10 children, including two from her previous relationship.
Although Brown was never a churchgoer, oldest daughter Joy Lindsay remembered her mother as a firm disciplinarian, who enforced honesty and integrity among her children during their formative years.
“My mother was very strict on us, as we could not just go outside anywhere, and if she knew that you have a piece of a blue pencil, and you should come in with a red one, she would question it. What she and my stepfather would do is tell us to go back down by the gate, go down the road, and throw the pencil as far as possible and let somebody else find it, but you must not be the one to find it and bring it in their house,” said Lindsay.
Granddaughter Kerren Brown spoke of her grandmother as both being strict and fun-loving, passing on her lessons of integrity to her 30 grandchildren, 39 great-grandchildren, and 13 great-great-grandchildren.
“Back when we were kids, if we did something wrong, she would run after us and scream, ‘Oonu bad-getting pickney,’ and we would be running all over the place because we know we were going to get the full length of her tongue,” said Brown. “But when she was in her good mood, it was a nice thing, because you could hear the laughter from anywhere you were, and she laughed very strong.”