TODAY marks exactly 100 years since Louise Welsh was born.

And although she is no longer able to do the things that she did years ago, her life has impacted those of her children, grandchildren, the community of Mavis Bank where she was born and raised, and just about everyone whom she came into contact with during the last 100 years.

“They call her Miss Mammy in the district of Mavis Bank and everybody know her,” Judith Chambers, Welsh’s granddaughter told the Jamaica Observer recently.

“Even now that she is not there, everybody knows who she is still. So is either ‘Aunt Lou’ or ‘Ms Mammy’ because she used to go around and collect the pimento from all the small farmers and then take it to the factory,”

she said.

“She is the type of person once you come to her house she is always offering to give you something to eat and drink, no matter how you tell her you eat already she tells you ‘no, you have to

eat something,'” Chambers added.

Welsh, who now resides at the Eulice Utton Home for Seniors in Mandeville, was famous for her wedding cakes and countless persons in the community would turn to her on that special occasion. These she would do for free.

“She was known in the district as a baker. People used to order from her and basically she gave them the cakes. They would just go to her and say that they need a cake and she would make it, and she used to find the ingredients. She is just that type of person. She baked my wedding cake when I was getting married 22 years ago,” Chambers said.

In Chambers’s opinion,

her grandmother took preservatives which has led her to spend 100 years

on earth.

“She always take one drink of white rum before every meal. And if you don’t give her she say she cannot eat without her appetiser. Every day! One drink before every meal, so I always say she takes preservative and that is

why she live so long,” Chambers recalled.

Welsh took her frequent sips up to age 92.

The eldest of four children for her mother, who was of French descent and her father, a Jamaican who worked on the construction of the Panama Canal, Welsh attended the Mount Fletcher Elementary school, along with her two brothers and

a sister.

When she attained the status of adulthood, Welsh gave birth to two boys, Clive “Ruddy” Welsh and Carlisle Welsh. Clive predeceased her 10 years ago, while Carlisle, a justice of the peace and a retired land surveyor, takes care of her now

After leaving school, today’s centenarian did dressmaking and crochet. Now, the walls of her son’s home in Mandeville are lined with framed handiwork of his

mother’s labour.

In 1944 Welsh married James Bertram Welsh (JB) who was a master tailor, regarded as one of the best in those days. He excelled in his design work and also gained respect as a Justice of the Peace. He died at age 50.

“Her husband had three other children ‘outside’ before the marriage and she treated them like her own even though they did not live with her, but they would

always come by her

house,” Chambers said.

“She would take care of children in the community and even in her old age there was always a little boy at the house whom she was sending to school and so on.

Welsh also loved to party.

“I remember once they sent me to accompany her on the airline when she was visiting her son in New York – Man, that was a summer to remember! The amount of party I go to… and the amount of crowd in the house all the while and she is one of those persons who have a sharp wit about her, so the family always like to be around

her,” Welsh’s granddaughter recalled.

“In her 70s if they were having a party she would go at midnight and came home at three in the morning. She not dancing, but she would sit down in her little corner and everybody would be all around her. Her knees could not manage at that time, but she still not missing out on anything. And don’t care what she do, Sunday morning not missing her at church. That was a staple. Church can’t start without her,”

she said.

Welsh’s son concurred with his daughter’s recollection that his mother loved

her liquor.

“I think she started taking a sip back in the 50s,” Carlisle said. “She wouldn’t eat unless she first took a sip

of something.”

But despite her love for ‘a sip’, Welsh was fully involved in a number of activities at the St Michael’s Anglican Church in Mavis Bank of which she was a member. She was a member of the church’s committee, served as treasurer, lay representative to the Synod, enrolled members of the mother’s union, and in 1990 she received an award from the church for her outstanding contribution and for being a long-standing and distinguished member.

In 2001, Welsh also received

the Governor General’s Award for dedicated community service.

“She was one

of those persons who stood for discipline, but while she stood for discipline she was not an aggressive person,” Carlisle said. “She was one who would try to win you over. I never get any spanking from her but she doesn’t forget. So when my father comes home she would complain to him and my father would be the one to spank,” he stated.

“My mom treated people so well that she had a helper and when the helper left, my mom kept her son, and any child that passed by my mother’s home got fed,” Carlisle said.

Carlisle, 76, described his mother, who is now unable to speak and move around,

as a good communicator who was mild and loving.

“She was very loving … a good communicator, not only in words but in action, and she did it to everyone. She was very principled and demanding, but not aggressive. She was mild and loving and that sort of pulled things out of you,” Carlisle said.

He said upon reflection that he excelled in life after seeing the characters whom his mom portrayed.

“I have great love and respect for her,” he continued. “I never found her angry or cussing or threatening or that sort of thing. I am not aware of anyone that my mother had anything against. I have never heard her beating down anyone. She would rather walk away. But on the other hand I don’t know of her accepting people who are doing the wrong things, and if you and her get along well you better not do anything that don’t look good in her presence,” he said.

Dede, Carlisle’s wife, explained that ‘Aunt Lou’ now has dementia and though they had a household helper caring for her the centenarian wanted more company, thus the reason for her being in the seniors’ home.

“Her sister was in a home and she asked to go to stay with her sister. After her sister died she said she wasn’t ready to leave yet because she had more company since all of us worked. It was just her and the helper here,” Dede said.

Welsh’s sister died in 2008.

“The home does the best they can, and you can see that she enjoys being where other people are,” she said.

Dede said that Welsh did a lot in her lifetime.

“We got a lot of the stuff she did framed and we have them hanging all over the house,” she told the Sunday Observer. “She used to make wines. She was famous for her rice wine, orange wine, pimento liqueur, potato wine, celery wine and even wines from flowers,” Dede recalled.

“She told me that flowers such as roses could make wine, and she could make wine from almost anything. She was always making wine and I was always willing to taste, and they tasted wonderful. My favourite was the orange wine, but the rice wine was good and the pimento liqueur was good also,” she said.

Along with her wine-making and crocheting, Welsh did a lot of embroidery and patchwork.

“I don’t think a crochet stitch exist that she cannot do,” Dede said. “She would sit down and make all these little pieces and then sew them together and then sew them onto a lining and that would be the patch work. I don’t know where she got the patience from, but she was very good at that sort of thing,” Dede added.

Another of the centenarian’s talents was dancing.

“She could dance!” Dede confirmed. “I remember once she had a party when we were living at Bloomsville (Mandeville), and some people came down from Mavis Bank and Aunt Lou danced and danced and all the men were tired and she was still going. She was the life of the party,” Dede laughed.

Welsh was also known for always having visitors.

“I used to see Aunt Lou cook the Sunday dinner before she went to church – one pot of rice and peas, and chicken – the usual Sunday dinner. And after church, all 15 people I see pack up in the little house and everybody got a proper meal. I don’t know what happen to the food and how it feed so many persons, but she was able to find something for everybody. She was quite happy to feed the world and his wife. She is a dear old lady,” Dede said.