North Side celebrated a first on Saturday by throwing a birthday party for Mrs. Beulah Adina Ebanks, who was born on 28 February 1907.
There may have been other North Siders who reached 100 years or more, but Miss Adina is the first for whom documentary evidence has been found, said her niece, Mrs. Alex Johnson.
A good many of Miss Adina’s 134 direct descendants gathered at the district’s Craddock Ebanks Civic Centre along with other relatives and friends for the occasion.
They paid tribute to Miss Adina not only with songs and speeches, but also in their constant procession to the head table where they exchanged hugs and kisses with the guest of honour.
Bits of family history and insights into Miss Adina’s character were shared by the several speakers: Ms Cassandra Ebanks, who read the family tribute; Mrs. Johnson, chairman of the organising committee, on behalf of the in-laws; Mr. Ezzard Miller, family friend; Mrs. Lucille Douglas, church sister; Mrs. Deanna Look Loy, director of Children and Family Services.
Miss Adina was born in North Side to Charles Hubert and Marie Priscilla Smith. She had six brothers and three sisters. She attended the district school and still recites Memory Gems older generations learned.
On 20 November 1925, she was united in marriage to Joseph Zolomon Ebanks, known as Mr. Sollie. There was no marriage officer in North Side, Mr. Cromwell Ebanks explained, so Mr. Sollie borrowed William Chisholm’s catboat and sailed to George Town with his intended.
Accompanying them were his sister Lucy and Adina’s brother Bothwell, who served as witnesses as the Rev. Dickson performed the ceremony. Having left North Side early in the morning, they were back in the district by evening.
Their first child, Delidah, was born in 1929. Ten others followed and Miss Adina raised them all to adulthood. Mr. Sollie went to work building docks and boats and hauling cargo while she stayed home with the children.
Staying home included gathering firewood and cooking in the outside caboose. She also worked in the yard alongside her husband, making rope or helping him paint the boats he built.
Miss Adina grew a wide variety of food and flowering plants in her yard, along with cerasee, which she boiled and gave to her grandchildren to cool their blood and make their skin pretty.
Miss Adina loves to travel and has been to Jamaica, Miami, Orlando and Cayman Brac. Her favourite place is Disney World and her only complaint after her last trip was that her nose was so cold.
Her love for her garden was highlighted on Saturday, when she received a large framed photograph of the broadleaf flower, the first plant to blossom in North Side after Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Neighbour Gary Chisholm gave her the present and, in announcing it, his cousin Ms Patricia Ebanks found a $100 note in his shirt pocket to go with the picture. Miss Pat compounded her audience’s amusement by calling on Mr. Coburn Miller, from the North Side Kitchen Band, to match it. He checked his wallet and obeyed.
Ezzard Miller’s tribute was in the form of eight commandments he composed based on lessons from Miss Adina’s life. They included being kind to others and agreeing to live and let live; setting goals and practising self-discipline; having fun – which older generations knew how to do with the resources they had.
Miss Adina has shared some of her experiences with the National Archive’s Memory Bank and in the book Cayman Yesterdays, published by the National Archive.
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