Shoemaker still shining after 99 years

At the age of 99, shoemaker Wellesley Howell is still showing up to work every day. 

Mr. Howell, who celebrated his birthday this week, says his secret to longevity and good health is a love of music, praising God and hard work. 

“I don’t have nothing to worry about. I love playing dominoes and I love the ladies,” he jokingly stated. 

“When it comes to making plans for my 100th birthday, it would be very foolish to do so now when I don’t even know if I will live to see it,” he said. “If God wishes to spare my life, I will enjoy whatever is in my way.” 

The active senior, who doesn’t look a day over 70, has a sharp mind, good hearing, needs no glasses to read a book, rarely has a sick day and each day can be seen working out of his shoe shop on Shedden Road. He has been working out of the same building for more than 34 years. 

He turned 99 on Sunday and spent the day with family and friends.  

His assistant Herman Dixon said he was astonished, when he returned after a seven-year absence from Cayman, to find Mr. Howell in such excellent health and still working hard. “He is a wonderful boss,” said Mr. Dixon. 

He celebrated earlier birthdays by hosting dominoes tournaments, but this year says he would do nothing like that. “This year, I plan to center my thoughts on God and see if he will spare my life to see 100, then I will do something everyone will enjoy. I love to play dominoes but [I‘m] not a person who likes too much drinking,” he said. 

“Gambling I don’t like or going out very much. I spend most of the time at home, especially after my wife died,” he added. 

As well as his shoe-making skills, Mr. Howell also has musical talents and plays the saxophone. “I have no favorite songs, any song that comes to mind, I play it just for enjoyment,” he said. 

He grew up in Chesterfield, St. Mary in Jamaica with his father Nehemiah Howell, who was a farmer, and his mother Agatha. 

“If he had a field to plant she assisted, but the man who was against farming was me,” Mr. Howell said, recalling getting days when he was flogged for refusing to go to the fields. “My father wanted me to cut grass and do field work but I did not have that on the brain, so I would hide,” he said. 

His parents would leave for the fields on Monday and did not return until the weekend. When they were away, he spent his time making musical instruments to sell and use.  

To develop his shoe-making trade, Mr. Howell spent his teenage years watching other cobblers in his district until he opened his own shoe shop in Kingston. He married his wife in 1959 and they had three children. She passed away in 2012.  

Arriving in Grand Cayman in 1958, Mr. Howell said he was sent for by S E Nembhard who wanted his services as a saxophone player. After staying on the island for six months, he went back to Jamaica to get married but returned to rejoin Nembhard’s band. 

Recalling Cayman in those days, Mr. Howell remembers lots of mosquitoes. “We fought through the mosquitoes and lived through it, and made life sublime,” he said. “We survived with most of the things coming in from Jamaica and, even when the mosquitoes were unbearable, we were all happy.”