Country’s newest centenarian shares secret to long, healthy life

What’s the secret to a long and healthy life? According to Barbados’ newest centenarian, it’s good food and an active lifestyle.

Lottie Germaine Bishop, of 5th Avenue Park Road, Bush Hall, St Michael, was surrounded by family and friends on Sunday, as she celebrated her grand milestone.

Bishop also received a call from the Governor General, Dame Sandra Mason, who wished her the best for her big day.

Bishop shared fond memories of her work at the General Hospital, now the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she assisted for many years in the laundry department and other areas.

“I used to work at the General Hospital before the Queen Elizabeth Hospital then. Then I transferred to the mortuary, the workshop, and the laundry, the first three things that moved over into the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. I worked there until 1961.

“Picking out the dirty clothes, helping to put them in the machine, helped to put the sheets on the roller to print. I did everything my hands could do at the laundry, wherever they [needed] me,” she said.

Bishop said she only retired from her work at the hospital, in order to take care of her last daughter, Margo, a decision she never regretted.

According to Bishop, it was her belief that her love of good, clean food and the love of helping out wherever she can, led to her impressive longevity, saying, “I cook sweet potato, English potato, dumpling and macaroni and saltfish. I am not a meat eater – you can cook it but do not give me a lot, if you are boiling soup don’t push in too much meat, but the juice.

“I help do everything that these hands can do, do not sit down. You see all out there [the home] before I got like this, I painted all of those bricks that you see in front.”

She also made it clear that food such as green bananas, corn, and other choices are great for meals for anyone to enjoy.

Grandson Kyle Edwards also paid a briefly loving tribute to Bishop.

“My grandmother is the strongest person I have known all my life. I have watched her every day for 24 years, and that’s not even a quarter of how long she has lived, but I am grateful and privileged to have been a part of her journey.

“I love and admire my grandmother; there is a lot I take from her, but most of all I take her drive to wake up every morning to just to do something.”

Lottie Bishop has four children, seven grandchildren and six greatgrandchildren.(SB)