The secret to a long life lies within the lineage of Melvina Ferguson — a St Thomas native who, on February 20, 2017, celebrated her 100th birthday.

“Me feel good man, an me nuh even feel mi gone to that,” Ferguson said last week as she gave a hearty laugh during an interview with theJamaica Observer.

Ferguson, it seems, is accustomed to being associated with persons who live long, as her sister who is affectionately called “Aunt May” recently celebrated her 99th birthday in London, England, and her husband who died over a decade ago also lived to see 100 years.

An avid Christian, the centenarian attributes her long life to “the hand of God” in all things concerning her.

“A God keep me up,” Ferguson stated. “A Him give me di power. God holds the wheel and keeps me alive.”

Though troubled with arthritis in the knees and was two years ago diagnosed with dementia, she insists on being active.

“Me will do any little thing me see fi move and put so and brush out the house,” she told the Sunday Observer, adding that “the knee dem let me down” and she “cya do the walking”.

Her daughter Mazie Barclay, who also attributed her mother’s life span to God’s work, was in awe of her strength.

“She is a very strong woman. I don’t know where she get her strength from. She’s so, so strong. When I was born she attended to herself, cut mi navel string and everything. She did it also with my little brother and I don’t know who else,” Barclay stated in admiration of her mother.

She related that her mother was seen as the community’s midwife – a skill Ferguson said she learnt by observing and assisting older professionals.

“She would also do a little work. I remember when they used to plant tomatoes down by Yallahs and she went down and she helped work on the farm,” Barclay recounted.

“She would do a little selling, like my father. If there is anything she would sell chicken or whatever ground provision there was,” she continued.

“That was long time ago,” Ferguson, who sat attentively listening to her daughter, chimed in. “We a talk old time story man.”

Ferguson loves to sing. In fact, during the interview she sang two hymns — Leaning on the Everlasting Arms andMy Jesus I Love Thee — without glitches, inserting her own ad-libs occasionally.

“Me love di words dem man, it cheering, it cheer you up you know,” she stated after singing the first hymn.

Her church sister, Sharon Bogle recalls the role Ferguson and her husband often played in church.

“She used to sing for Sabbath school on Sabbath mornings and her husband would play the guitar while she would sing. I remember that distinctly, because I know her for many, many, many years. They loved Jesus,” Bogle noted.

The centenarian, while smiling at her church sister added that her husband, also played the violin.

Barclay reasoned that her parents lived that long because of their dedication and love for God.

“They went through a lot of struggles because we were one of the poorest in the community at the time but whatever they had, they give thanks. Little is much when God is in it. They were always contented and trust in the Lord. I think that is one of the things that keep them going,” she told the Sunday Observer.

“They used to walk and go from house to house and tell others about the love of God and take us (the children) too. As I said they were poor, they didn’t have money much like others but they taught us the morals and they taught us about God, how to fear the Lord. As children we were contented too because we learnt that way,” she continued.

“They were kind loving parents. I can’t forget this instance where one night I had a toothache for the entire night and I could hardly sleep and it was my mother and father who stayed up with me for the night, both of them. So my father didn’t go to bed and leave me and me mother, both of them were up with me for the night and as day light that he could manage to walk, he walked one mile just to get two Panadols for me. They always want to know that the people around them are happy. They were kind not only to us but to anybody at all. They were humble and sometimes give up their rights for peace,” she stated.

Today, family, friends and well-wishers will congregate at the Morant Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church in the parish to celebrate Ferguson’s tremendous milestone.