About 13 years ago, while holidaying in Tobago I was listening to a call-in radio programme where callers were being judged for the loudest and longest laugh. A young boy called and introduced his grandmother, 87 year old Irene Jadunath of 19 Vallot Street, Boissiere Village in Maraval, who wanted to take part. This feisty lady actually won the contest.
When next I met her daughter, Barbara Carter, I related with a great deal of admiration what her mother had done. Barbara, whose laugh is as low-keyed as could be, shook her head and replied "that sounds like Mummy."
On April 24, Irene Albertina Jadunath passed away at the age of one hundred years and four months. Her Funeral Mass at the Church of the Assumption Roman Catholic Church was conducted by Father Reginald Hezekiah whom she had known since he was a youngster. Eulogising "this gift from God who has brought good news for the past 100 years and four months" was difficult to chronicle in the short time allotted to Barbara.
A widow for 53 years, her 60 grandchildren, 75 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grands were her treasures. But the stories of love, caring and sharing are recurring themes as told by countless friends, their children and relatives.
Irene's eulogy was not one of achievements in the tinsel that is the social world, but one of extreme greatness in the simple things that really mattered. Her spirituality, joie de vivre (as was evidenced in that radio call-in), compassion for others and enduring friendships were testimony to the love she radiated and the hope she gave to all those with whom she came into contact.
At age 47, when her beloved husband passed away, Irene became a working woman because the eldest of her nine children at home was 19 and the youngest just two. She learned the art of floral arrangements with help from two friends, and did the job at home to support her family. Irene worked until her 98th year, continually upgrading her skills and discovering new ones, such as catering, where she showed great flexibility in adopting the use of promasa to make her pastelles and foil instead of fig leaves, even scoffing at some of her daughters who insisted that fig leaves were a must for their pastelles.
She actively raised funds for the building of Assumption Church, served as an altar lady, and in latter years was one of the founding members of Father Hezekiah's Golden Girls group. Irene was known to celebrate every festival. Birthdays, weddings, births, any achievement of her grands was a time to say thanks in the way she loved, share a meal. Her Christmas holidays started in September/October when her parang tapes and flowers for the Christmas arrangements she created annually, came out. Carnival was another favourite and she had to go to at least one fete, and even when she could no longer dance would sit and enjoy the music.
When Irene lost her vision in one eye some years ago and travelled to Miami for surgery, and could get no guarantee from the doctor that she would regain her sight in that eye she bluntly refused to spend money without a guarantee. Her magnifying glass became a constant companion. She read voraciously and one day, said Barbara "I saw her reading a Playboy Magazine, she exclaimed well if I don't read these things how will I know what is going on."
In 1981, Irene was diagnosed with cancer and given three to five months to live, but was never told this. She baffled every doctor and nurse with her will to live and enjoyed 20 more years of life. "We are confident that the memory of mother's extraordinary spirituality, her attentive and self-sacrificing love of God, her absolute respect for the value of all human life, and her courage in facing so many challenges will inspire us all to carry on her commitment to compassion and in cheerful, wholehearted care of the marginalised amongst us" said Barbara on behalf of the extensive Jadunath family.
IRENE ALBERTINA JADUNATH - 8 December 1900 - 24 April 2001.