Centennial Celebration: Hilda Dixon honoured on 100th birthday

Hilda Dixon smiled broadly last Thursday as she celebrated reaching the milestone of 100 years old.

Dixon, a devoted Christian, was feted by her family members at her home in Cold Spring, Hanover, who were also excited to share in the momentous occasion.

Born in Ulster Spring, Trelawny, in 1923, Dixon is one of two remaining children of the dozen her parents had.

Surrounded by her children at her celebration last week, her daughters remember the centenarian as a tiller of the soil and a disciplinarian.

Dixon, her family said, worked tirelessly to care for her six children after the death of her first husband, Eric Johnson, in 1964, as they had to return to Jamaica from England when he became ill.

Through farming, Dixon was able to provide meals for her family.

"Mom was usually up before the crack of dawn and would be somewhere on her acre and a half of land, planting food of various kinds. She returned at 7:30 a.m., to make us breakfast and send us off to school but not before morning prayer. There was a balance in her parenting, she never spared the rod," her daughter Yvonne Johnson shared.

Ethelbert Buchanan, Dixon's eldest son, said his mother has a special love for mangoes. He recalled occasions when she would gather the sweet fruit and feast on them.

"It wasn't early morning and mama filled her basket with mangoes from the garden. She would cook the evening meal and took the tiniest morsel for herself, but her joy would be to fill her bowl with mangoes, lap her skirt and sit on the steps and eat a belly full," Buchanan said.

He added: "She would say, 'That's what you call me time, no disturbance allowed'. Mango feast! Magi massacre!', he recalled, evoking thunderous laughter.