Hilda Lyte at 100: A century of memories and milestones

Centenarian Hilda Lyte celebrated her 100th birthday surrounded by generations of family, with President Jeffrey Bostic joining the celebrations as she reflected on a century of memories and a life well lived.

Lyte, a mother of seven sons and three daughters, marked the milestone at Atlantic Ridge, Green Point, St Philip, surrounded by a family that has grown to include more than 40 grandchildren, about 20 great-grandchildren, 10 great-great-grandchildren and an undisclosed number of great-great-great-grandchildren.

For President Bostic, this visit meant more than just fulfilling an official duty.

“I had to be here this morning because for me, whenever I visit a centenarian, it’s not a duty, it’s an honour,” he said. “And I enjoy every moment with my centenarians.”

Bostic spoke with Lyte about her childhood, her memories, and the experiences that shaped her life, including her recollections of Hurricane Janet.

Lyte recalled being raised primarily by her grandmother, who took her from her mother when she was just 11 months old.

“My grandmother alone had me to support because my father wasn’t a father to me,” she said. “My grandmother had to work hard to raise me.”

She described her grandmother as a strict but caring figure who ensured she went to church and school and taught her the importance of discipline.

“She used to come up to school and wait and see if I interfere with anybody or if anybody interfere with me,” Lyte recalled. “And if I run, I gon get licks. Yeah, that’s how it was with us.”

Lyte also had advice for young people, especially with concerns about violence in communities.

“I would love them to live in unity with one another,” she said. “You know, this shooting, this stabbing, they getting unruly about it.”

She also stressed the importance of discipline and taking care of oneself.

“I used to always tell my children, ‘Listen to me.’ You got to cook, you got to wash, you got to press,” she said.

Lyte said that hard work and education helped her live a long life.

“What help me to live? I work hard, I labour, I learn good at school,” she said.

Among those reflecting on Lyte’s influence was her grandson Alvin Forde.

“Mommy took me in from my parents when I was a baby, and I was raised with my grandmother with some straight discipline,” he said.

Forde said his grandmother’s influence still shapes the person he is today.

“I’m a big man and mature, all because of my grandmother,” he said. “Grandma, as you people say, I love you. Mommy, I love you. Thank you.”

Lyte’s granddaughter Dawn Applewhite-Burt also shared a lighter memory of her grandmother, recalling how Lyte insisted on having fried chicken wings despite being told she should not eat them. “She said to me, ‘I am 97 years old. You know the doctor can’t tell me what to do. I want a chicken wing’.”

Applewhite-Burt also presented a poem in honour of her grandmother.

Another tribute came from Ivan “Worsse” Lyte, the centenarian’s second-last son, who said his mother taught him three important skills: cooking, washing and pressing clothes.

The centenarian’s memories also reached back to Hurricane Janet, which struck Barbados in 1955.

She recalled being urged to leave her home for shelter but deciding to remain there before eventually making her way to a school where others had taken refuge.

“I see a lady down at the bottom below me. I see her house spinning, spinning,” she recalled. “The wind got the house spinning so and drop down.”

She also talked about how hard it was to travel after the hurricane.

“The next morning, I had to come down through the rainwater, water reaching here up to your knee, and I had to go home in that water,” Lyte said.

(LE)