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| Sitting form left, Mrs Jean Harris, Ms Ellen Wallace, Ms Ada Wallace and rev Dwayne Cassius. Standing from left are Mrs Violet Perkins (Ellen’s daughter), Mr Clayton Mills, Mr Oriel Hector and Mr St. Clair Wallace. |
Charlestown Nevis (March 22, 2004) -- Family members and extended relatives of the oldest living twins in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, defied inclement weather on Sunday afternoon and set the otherwise sleepy Barnaby Village in St. James Parish alive with a sumptuous party to mark the twins’ 90th birthday.
Born in March 13, 1914, Ms Ellen Wallace could not hold tears of joy as she sat next to her identical twin, Ms Ada Wallace, who has been living in England for the last 41 years and only returned home (2nd time since she migrated) on Friday March 12, to celebrate the important milestone with her sister.
Chairman of the proceedings, Mr St. Clair Wallace, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Nevis Island Administration, who is a nephew of the twins, said that “it is my understanding that when they met on Friday March 12 it was a real touching moment for both of them because they hugged and kissed each other until tears came to their eyes.”
Whereas a simple form of celebration was held at their church, St. James Anglican Church on Sunday March 14, a day after the actual day, real celebrations were held one week later to allow for most of their relatives to be around to partake of the momentous occasion and see the oldest twins in person.
“I have never seen two ladies at their age, who can read and write as good as they,” said Mr Wallace, who also noted that they have a mild form of hearing disability due to age. “They are the two living sisters of a family of 13, there were some six males and seven females and ten of them have gone before them. None of the others have reached the age of ninety.”
According to Mr Wallace, in their youth, his twin aunts worked hard for a living, saying that they were probably the best potters in Nevis. They were also farmers as the Wallace family had forty acres of land. He remembered that they would make their wares, including clay spoon and every Friday they would go to St. Kitts to sell both pottery and agricultural produce.
This information was collaborated by another of their nephews, Mr Oriel Hector, the Supervisor of Elections in the Federation and a former Commissioner of Police, who said that they also taught him pottery and that he was very good at the trade.
Director of Gender and Social Affairs, Mrs Cherril Bartlett, complimented the twins for their good health saying that hard work and eating right bring about a good quality of life, and hoped that at this stage of life that their friends and relatives would step in to take care of them and to ensure that for as long as they live, they would have a good quality of life.
“As part of my mandate at our department we try to ensure that the elderly are taken care of,” noted Mrs Bartlette. “We try to give advice, where we are asked and intervene in cases where we feel that there is need to intervene. I do not think I need to intervene here except to hope that the family continues what they have been doing and to keep them in the best health as possible and make them as comfortable as possible.”
Area parliamentary representative for St. James Parish and Minister of Health, the Hon Mrs Jean Harris, who is a family friend, said that attaining ninety years was a great achievement but it was an even greater achievement for attaining ninety as twins. She also thanked the Wallace family for taking great care of the twins.
“We live in an age where the elderly are forgotten,” said Minister Harris. “Mrs Bartlett, the Director, would tell you that we have so many problems with our elderly. They have made great contributions to us, our communities and our island. We need to go back to basics and look after our elderly.”
Also addressing the gathering, which was blessed by the Parish Minister for St. James Parish, Rev Dwayne Cassius, was an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Clayton Mills, a cousin of the twins, who stressed that it takes a village to raise a child, by noting that without the twins, who shaped his life when he was young, he would not be the person he is today.
