Susan Edmilda Rowe: Cornerstone church member goes home at 102

Susan Edmilda Rowe was born on December 1, 1915, in Reserve, Trelawny. Rowe, who was fondly called Aunt Sue, died on March 7 at the ripe age of 102.

Marcia Gray-Reid, a grandchild who cared for the centenarian during the last 20 years of her life, remembered her as a jovial, hard-working farmer.

"She sold her ground provisions in the Falmouth Market and always had a humorous story to tell," Gray-Reid said.

"When visitors came and hugged her, she would say, 'Careful!' mine none jook yuh."

The Reverend Novlyn Hanson, Aunt Sue's pastor, described her as one of the cornerstones of the Belleview United Church, where the thanksgiving service was held on April 14.

"When I came into the circuit, she was one of the persons whose name was on the lips of everyone. I was told of how she broke stones to establish a driveway to the church," Hanson said.

"She was very outspoken and was critical of the way we sang. She would choose her own song, which she sang in a melodious tenor voice," she said.

When she was in her 80s, Aunt Sue would walk the two-mile journey to church with her husband, Achilus, who was blind. Achilus died in 2008.

Aunt Sue was buried in the Reserve Cemetery.