FELLOWSHIP, Portland — The district of Fellowship in the Rio Grande Valley of Portland is blessed with three centenarians living within half a mile of each other.

They are O’Neil McKenzie, 102; David Williams, 100; and Eulalie Campbell who is 101 years old.

McKenzie goes by many names, an indicator of his popularity.

“Everybody around here is one family. We need to enjoy life and laugh; it is very important,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

The sprightly golden ager, who answers to Mr Mac, Mass Neil or Brother Mac, is grateful to have passed the century mark.

“I give God thanks to be alive to see 102 years. We have to live good with everyone, love them, live in peace and trust God,” he said, sharing tips for a peaceful existence.

He’s been married for 50 years to the love of his life, Hyacinth. Their golden anniversary was on December 4, 2021.

“My wife has been good to me… let God be praised,” he said.

McKenzie, who served as an elder at Bethesda Gospel Chapel in Port Antonio, strongly believes his Christian faith has played a major role in his longevity.

“I trust God and I serve him. When we love God and are obedient to him we will live long. Children obey your parents… Love your neighbour as yourself are some of God’s command[ments], and when we do this we will live long. Caring for people, living and eating right are some simple principles,” said the one-time farmer who used to plant bananas, plantains and oranges.

“I feel like a young boy but I am not as strong as I used to be,” said McKenzie who will be 103 on April 6, 2022.

Five minutes’ walk away from his house is 100-year-old David Williams. As the Observer arrived, his granddaughter Sebrina Grant-Tate was about to leave but she graciously stayed a while to chat.

“It is exciting to know someone — who is also my grandfather — who is alive at 100 years old. He can tell us stories of the olden days so I am very proud to know my grandfather made it to 100. I live in New Jersey and I do call him sometimes to video chat, and I try to come out at least once a year to visit him,” she said with a smile.

Longevity runs in the family as, according to Grant-Tate, 101 Eulalie Campbell is her grandaunt. She is the sister of Williams’ late wife, Dorothy, who died at 94 years old in November 2021. They were married for 79 years.

Williams, who proudly shared that he was born on July 13, 1921, had many stories to tell. He went to World War II at 20 years old, he said, but did not face battle. He was living in America at the time and his job was to make walkers for adults who needed help getting around.

“We cut them to the length, put them in the soap then the acid, and the acid cut off all the rust so it become new,” he reminisced.

Williams has had his fair share of health challenges, including several strokes that have led to him,too, needing the support of a walker – though he is convinced he may be able to do without it if he put his mind to it. When he got the sixth stroke in 2014 his doctor at Andrews Memorial Hospital in Kingston told his son he had little chance of surviving,

“I spent one month and they give me a walker and mi come out. I go to the doctor often and they check the blood and they say me alright,” he said.

Other memories are a lot happier than his time in hospital, like the day he met his wife.

“I came back from America [in] 1945. They invited me to Sabbath and I spent the day at the church, and I look around the young people them and I find a lady. Luckily, she married me,” he said.

That is just part of his long and fruitful history with the Seventh-day Adventist faith. He has served as an elder and also helped build a number of the churches, starting with Olive Mount Church, Durham, Rock Hall, John’s Hall and Windsor.

“I was baptised by Pastor Laing and ordained [as an elder] and served from 1962 to 2007. I used to sell books and talk to the people them [witnessing]. I am happy to be alive today and I love the Lord. I feel like I can go out there and work, as I think I can walk again [without the walker]. Every day I do 100 steps [as therapy],” he said.

He also relies on home remedies such as the cassava marble plant from which he makes a tea.

“It is good for your urine and stoppage of water. I worship every morning and I eat wholewheat bread and cornmeal porridge,” he said, offering other tips for a long life. “I am happy to see my fourth generation.” he added.

The lone female in the trio, Eulalie “Miss Dalty” Campbell (nee Shelton), was a bit more reserved but also shared her views on the secret to longevity. She thinks it has something to do with her early years at Bath Spring and the type of food eaten.

“Fish, crawfish, shrimps, mud fish and ganga is what we used to feed on,” she said. She was born in April of 1920.

Her son, Colin “Val” Campbell, recalls that in their early years in Clarendon his parents “worked hard on sugar plantation and raised 14 of us. We had friends who came in and she cared for us all”.

His father died at 72 years old and the family has grown over the years to include 49 grandchildren, 52 great-grandchildren and four great, great-grandchildren.

He is grateful his mother is still alive to see them. He can still recall how she made each of her 14 child feel equally loved when they were growing up. It was in the little things she did.

“She is a very good mother as when she shared the food we all get the same amount; no favourites. Her memory goes and comes but she walks by herself to the bathroom and back. She is a good mother,” he said.

“She lives long, I think, because of her family (hereditary). She is [of the] Shelton [lineage]; it run in her genes. She has a sister who died at 103, a brother at 99, and another sister at 94,” he pointed out.

Her granddaughter Annette Bonnick is also happy the family matriarch is still with them.

“I feel very proud and blessed to have her living so long. I had a granduncle who lived to 103 and I told him I want to live as long as him. He said to me, ‘Darling don’t pray for it. Pure aches and pain’,” she said with a chuckle.

She is keenly observing how Miss Dalty handles her long-lasting life.

“She has days when she is up and down, and her appetite has changed. She used to be very active and don’t know what it is to sit down, and always cooking with extra food in the pot,” said Bonnick. “I remember me and har used to go bush and dig yam and come back and cook. When she finish cooking, she share out for everybody. We used to live near the river and set fishpot and when we come home, we cook fish,” Bonnick reminisced.