Centenarian lives by ‘a touch of brandy’

Coral Osaline Agard started her day with a session of prayer thanking God for helping her to reach 100 years old.

Then she got busy in her kitchen preparing her lunch, which included frying pot fish.

Sprightly centenarian Coral Agard.

Relatives who gathered at her Appleby Gardens, St James home to celebrate the big day which also included a visit from Governor General Dame Sandra Mason, told members of the media that Agard does not only cook for herself and keep her surroundings clean and tidy, but she also takes pride in catching the bus to go wherever she wants to.

Agard who is lovingly referred to as “the road runner” acts as though her walking stick is just a prop, as she is still able to walk upright on her own.

Relatives recalled that just two years ago, the old lady was still going to the supermarket to do her own grocery shopping.

“I am feeling fine. I am not complaining,” declared the centenarian who said that she embraced the tough and happy times she has encountered throughout life’s journey.

A seemingly quiet Agard, who has one daughter, four grands, five great-grands and four great-great grands, did not have much to say other than she was feeling grateful.

However, her granddaughter, Olivet Hinds, said her grandmother worked heading cane at Porters factory and then worked as a cleaner in the tourism industry.

“She is in good health. She is always on the road. She likes to go places. It is only in the last year that we have stopped her being independent. She is now here living with mummy and my brother. But all like now she still cooks.

“She doesn’t go out alone anymore. But wherever she wants to go, she has her attendant there and on the bus they go wherever driving. And you always have to tell her granny the stick goes on the ground not under your arm. She has a stick just to pose with,” Hinds said.

She said her grandmother also believes that the “touch” of brandy she has been drinking every Saturday night for many years, is what gets you to the 100 mark.

The granddaughter said the kind and gentle matriarch would give her last to a stranger.

“Anybody would tell you that. I use to work on Broad Street and I would be at lunch going down Broad Street and I would pass granny. I would ask her, ‘granny where you going?’ and she would say ‘I going to the hospital to look for somebody. Who in the hospital? I don’t know.

“She going to look for the sick and take stuff for the people at the hospital. She would give the last of whatever it is she has to a stranger. She does not even have to know you. As long as you look like you are in need, she would take her shoes off and walk on the hot road,” Hinds said.

Governor General Dame Sandra Mason commended Agard for the role she has played in shaping the lives of future generations.

The centenarian who was busy enjoying the company of the youngest member of her family, 10-month-old Lux Corbin who came in from Canada to share the special day with her, told Barbados TODAY that she intended to spend the rest of her birthday quietly.