NEGRIL, Westmoreland — Ivy Melvina Adams-Smith recently celebrated her 90th birthday but the celebration was bittersweet as she lamented the loss of ‘the good old days’.

Unlike her heyday, she said, Jamaicans now make the acquisition of material things a priority over God.

“People are too taken up with the things of the world,” lamented Miss Ivy, as she is affectionately called.

“But if they go down on their knees and pray to God for the love of Jesus and prepare for the coming of Jesus then things will be better,” she added.

Born in Black River, St Elizabeth on August 15, 1913, Miss Ivy has fond memories of days gone by which, she said, were marked by a show of love and unity among everyone.

The recent celebration of her 90 years of life was shared by close friends and family members who brought smiles to the elderly woman’s face. And while three generations of her children spent the evening with her, Miss Ivy said her greatest desire was to see all her offspring remain steadfast in the Lord.

Though currently a resident of Savanna-La-Mar, Miss Ivy grew up in the Newcombe Valley District of St Elizabeth. At 16, she moved to the Mountainside community in that parish and spent her life as a housewife doing embroidery and taking care of her husband, Egbert Smith. Together they raised their four children.

Her husband died 24 years ago.

Her family members and friends have expressed joy at her long life, which has not been marred by any serious ailments. She is asthmatic and has a minor blood sugar problem but that aside she is quite healthy and expects to see many more summers in her lifetime.

She visits New York at least once a year where one of her sons — Dr Alanzo Smith, a director of Family Ministries Communication in the Seventh Day Adventist faith — practises as a counselling psychologist.

And she still finds time to smell the roses and to read books.