Latest update May 6th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jan 29, 2017 News
…is sixth centenarian in family in two generations
By Suraj Narine
Another Guyanese recently reached the seemingly magical three-figure mark in the always cherished existence on Mother Earth. Twelve days ago, to be precise, United States-based Lilith Lenora Lindie nee Bender reached the
milestone.
This adorable senior citizen was born on January 17, 1917 in a village called Solitude, located in the Upper Demerara-Berbice Region. She grew up in a Christian household with seven siblings. Her parents, Albert and Ariel Bender, were both church Ministers and strict disciplinarians who were unwavering in their mission to inculcate the importance of love, morals and hard work amongst their children.
She attended the Catholic Girls School in New Amsterdam until the age of 15.
The centenarian describes herself as having been a quiet and taciturn child who didn’t have many friends. She learnt from a tender age, the significance of family and there was an unbreakable bond that existed between her siblings and herself. She never really enjoyed playing with the children at school, instead, she preferred to play at home with her kin.
She recalled that from an early age, she began to develop a love for sewing and would often take her mother’s clothes apart to create other designs. It became her favourite pastime.
Life became a lot more meaningful when she gave birth to her first child at 19, and two years later, in 1938 she married Cedric Lindie and lived with him at De Velde in the Berbice River for twenty years, until his death in July 1957.
Their union produced nine children, with the eldest now 80 and the youngest, 64. One child is deceased.
Mrs. Lindie has 39 grandchildren, 65 great grandchildren and 6 great-great grandchildren.
She migrated to the United States in 1979 and worked as a Certified Nurse Aid for over two decades in Brooklyn, New York, before moving to St. Mary’s, Georgia, where she currently resides with five of her children. One of her sisters, who also resides in the US, is just six years shy of becoming a centenarian as well.
In fact, Mrs. Lindie is the sixth member of her family to attain the age of 100 in two generations. The others were her brother and sister who both passed away at 100; two cousins who died at 105 and 107, and an aunt who departed at 105.
Mrs. Lindie admits that these days she loves “a good gaff”. She still cleans her room, does her gardening and remarkably, often helps out in the kitchen. She has no ailments, other than old-age aches and pains that generally affect us all in the advanced years. She is a member and Mother of Greater Trinity United Methodist Church in Saint Mary’s, Georgia.
SECRET TO LONGEVITY
Mrs. Lindie’s reflects that her secret to longevity is maintaining a very active lifestyle and of course, eating healthy. She prefers a vegetarian diet, loves nature, and spends “a lot of time outdoors with the trees and flowers. Keeping a clean mind and having good thoughts”.
“My advice would be to live a good, healthy normal life. Stay away from too much of night life, drinking and smoking. Also, people should look for the good and positive things in others and situations rather than the bad or negative. That takes away from your happiness.
“Everyone errs from time to time, but we must be more forgiving of each other. We must also accept that everyone is different, and so our expectations must be adjusted according to those differences. If this were to be done, then there will be less of the hate going around today in every society, especially with respect to religious and cultural intolerance.”
Her mantra is “When you come from good parents you have to be good; parents and their religious beliefs have a role to play in moulding the young ones.”
Quizzed on how life is now compared to the days growing up, she stated: “Times have changed so much that it is difficult to draw a comparison.”
She elaborated that her parents were very strict and children in general always showed respect to their parents and elders. She emphasised that she and her siblings were “never allowed to sleep out and had to be home at a certain time”.
“These days, parents seem to have less control over their children, and in my opinion they’re not spending enough time with them. That can be a recipe for disaster. But of course, that’s only my humble opinion.”
In concluding our conversation, Mrs. Lindie struck a poignant chord. She genuinely worries that things will only get worse for future generations because “our children emulate what we teach them and to be frank, the teaching today needs improvement”.
Words of wisdom from someone who’s witnessed more than most us can even imagine.
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Lindie! Congratulations, and we wish you many more fruitful years!
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