DUANVALE, Trelawny — By virtue of their longevity, centenarians Violet Mosse Brown, 117, and Hubert Williams, 104, have ostensibly highlighted the importance for working Jamaicans to acquire retirement plans, Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson has pointed out.

“To me, Auntie Vie (Mosse Brown) is a living testimony of the importance of the need to plan for retirement right from the start. And I am sure that Mr Williams can also tell you how important it is to plan,” Robinson said. “I use this occasion to underscore, once again, the need for retirement plans among all Jamaicans.”The labour minister was speaking at a rescheduled Centenarians’ Day celebration at Trittonville Baptist Church in Trelawny on Thursday for the two senior citizens. The event was slated for Friday, May 20, but was postponed because of heavy rain.Robinson lauded Mosse Brown and Williams, who hails from Clarks Town in this northern parish, as national treasures and exemplary Jamaicans. Mosse Brown was singled out for her hard work which has contributed to nation building.“Today (Thursday) in 2017 I salute Auntie Vie as a Jamaican worker and hail her for her contribution to nation building. She and her husband worked as cane farmers, selling their crop to the Long Pond Sugar Estate. Later, Mr Brown became the caretaker for the nearby cemetery, calling on his wife’s skill to help him with record keeping. So, in her humble corner of Jamaica, Mrs Brown has served as a valued Jamaican worker, and I thank her for her dedicated efforts which have enabled the country to progress and move forward,” the labour minister noted.She further stated: “It is fitting, with Workers’ Week just concluded, that we should be highlighting Mrs Brown and Mr Williams’ contribution to nation building and economic development.”Dr Denise Eldemire Shearer, patron of the National Council for Senior Citizens, pointed out that lazy Jamaicans should internalise Mosse Brown’s message that hard work attributed to her longevity.“She said, ‘I work hard sometimes ’til I bawl’. And I think that that is a message that I can take from today to the whole of Jamaica, because we have too many people who simply don’t want to work. And I think that if we take nothing from her celebration of life it is that hard work never kill nobody,” Eldemire Shearer stressed.Mosse Brown was born on March 10, 1900 and has been described as a veteran of time.“Her life story covers many historic events : World War I in 1914, World War II in 1939, the Jamaica labour riots in 1938, the birth of independent Jamaica in 1962, the end of horse-powered tram cars in 1949, the introduction of the National Insurance Scheme in 1966, conversion from pound, shillings and pence to dollars and cents in 1969, and many other interesting changes,” the labour and social security minister pointed out.Baptised at age 13 at the Trittonville Baptist Church in her Duanvale community, Mosse Brown, who is also the world’s oldest baptised church member, served with distinction in various areas of the church, spanning over eight decades.“She can recall any event in the church and the community for the past 100 years,” church members have said of the supercentenarian.