when The Gleaner On September 14, 2022, the title “There's Gold in the Hills'' refers to Canadian miners discovering traces of gold and copper in the first borehole at Bellas Gate, St. Catherine. However, little did they know that a 100-year-old treasure had also emerged from deep within that hill.
Born on March 15, 1917 in Belas Gate, Isola Manby celebrated her 107th birthday a few days ago, also known as March Day 2024.
Munby's daughter, Dr. Jennifer Munby-Alexander, said she believes her mother's long life is due to good lifestyle habits. These include eating home-grown organic foods and fruits for decades. Some staples in her life include soursop, jackfruit, cherries, lemons, yams, ginger, pomegranates, guavas, and mangoes. Dr Munby-Alexander said her mother often wished she could “eat fish every day”.
She said the energetic senior worked out every day until he was 103 years old, walking regularly to Mountain Spring Road. She “survived the novel coronavirus infection at the age of 104 without a vaccine.” Miss Isola received spiritual growth and nurture at the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Bellas Gate.
She was one of eight children of parents Shedwell and Henrietta Lind, and learned from an early age to eat what was grown on the farm where they lived. She said her family owned a farm in the area and was fed locally grown food and goat milk.
She moved to Kingston in early adulthood and trained at Kingston Public Hospital and Jubilee Hospital before becoming a registered nurse. She loved midwifery and operating room nurses. She traveled widely and also worked as a nurse in the United States.
broke my leg
Isola was married to Edward Milton Manby, who predeceased her, along with their children, Derrick and Jennifer. She says one of her fiercest battles in her adult life was with the Jamaica Public Service (JPS). Munby-Alexander said she is proud that her parents were the first owners/occupants of the Hope Pastures home in 1962. It was the first government-designed and council-approved residential community in Jamaica with underground telephone and light service.
She said they struggled but paid both utilities to install these services.
But the community and JPS found themselves embroiled in a legal battle to keep the electricity underground, which enhances the area's aesthetic appeal and is the reason they were drawn to the area in the first place.
The area was used for tree planting and the community still has mature fruit trees and once flourished with mango, avocado, ackee, guava, cherry and breadfruit.
Much land was lost to apartment buildings, and several trees were destroyed in the process. The residents lost their fight at the Supreme Court, but some still plan to appeal. Isola's household, where she lives with her daughter, and several other households were disconnected from the underground power grid and without electricity for an extended period of time. Residents were told to follow a new system that would see their area served by a system connected via utility poles.
“One night, she fell down in the dark at home after JPS intentionally cut off power from the currently poorly maintained power service she paid for, claiming an unrepairable power outage. I broke my leg.Meanwhile, 75 percent of Hope Pastures homes are without power, Dr. Munby Alexander said. The Gleaner.
However, Manby says, “JPS has not heard anything from her until the end.''
She said her mother “cries a lot because she feels old now and her mobility is limited by a wheelchair.”
“She often wonders and asks about her purpose in life at this age, but until the answer is revealed, she, representing the Golden Sweet Spot of Bellas Gate, has made her family and friends completely I’m supported,” she said. The Gleaner.
erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com
