When Agnes Winifred Gertrude Cozier celebrated the hundredth anniversary of her birth on September 4 in Barbados, each of her four children, Winston, June Mayhew, Grace Harty and Alyson Johnson, paid glowing tribute to this rare woman whose down-to-earth way of life and very dry sense of humour are still in evidence at age one hundred.
Winnie was born in a small village in Central Trinidad to James and Mary Greaves, and is now the only surviving member of a family of nine (five boys and four girls).
Somewhere around 1925, while working as assistant Post Mistress to her elder sister, Lenore, in Chaguanas, a handsome, young Barbadian, Carl Montdeen Cozier, came to Trinidad as an overseer at Woodford Lodge Estate, and would visit the post office, astride his horse, to collect his mail.
"The estate" explained her youngest daughter, Alyson, "belonged to Sir Harold Robinson, who employed these young Barbadian people to give of their expertise in the sugar industry."
"Soon after, my father's Barbadian wife died and he was left with two young children, whom he sent to live with his parents in Barbados. My father's visits to the Post Office became even more regular at the end of every month to send money to Barbados to take care of his children."
"Auntie Lenore, who was thirteen years older than my mother, always related that when he came into the Post Office, no matter how long your mother's line was, he would wait for her to stamp his documents. But my mother had already made up her mind that he was a widower and she did not want anyone secondhand."
Lenore decided something must come of this, and accepted a buggy ride on their behalf. "My mother jumped in the back and my father drove the entire way half-turned chatting to her in the back seat." Carl persisted, the courtship was conducted under Lenore's strict eye and they were married in 1926.
In 1962, upon Carl's retirement, the couple went to live in Barbados, where he passed on peacefully in 1964.
The union was blessed with four children, and to-day Winnie has 15 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren, the youngest of whom was born on September 6, 1999, almost one hundred years after the day of her birth.
In his tribute, Winston said "Mummy was a very strict disciplinarian and did not spare the rod. As a devoted Christian, she was an active member of the Anglican church and insisted in all of us following in her footsteps. She was also very involved in the Child Welfare League in Chaguanas and other community work in the area. We were all educated at the best schools, and sacrifices that were made by her can now fully be looked back upon as an accomplished feat of outstanding dedication to her family."
A Service of Thanksgiving celebrated for Winnie at St Matthias Church by Reverend DeVere Murrell, was followed by a reception at 37 Garden Road #1, Christ Church.
Not only did all of Winnie's children, a majority of grandchildren and greatgrands, and friends who all love her, attend the celebrations to join in wishing her continued health and happiness on the occasion, but the Governor General of Barbados, Sir Clifford Husbands, visited and toasted the centenarian at her home. Winnie also proudly displayed a card received from Queen Elizabeth II, direct from Buckingham Palace.
At one hundred, Winnie's health is good, so too are her sight and hearing. Her memory is not as sharp as it used to be, and she has become a little slow on her feet.
God's willing, it is hoped that Winnie will carry on to the new millennium, which means she would have lived to experience three centuries.