Sis­ter Marie Thérèse Rétout has re­ceived many ac­co­lades through­out her life­time for her out­stand­ing ser­vice to T&T.

These in­clude the re­ceipt of the high­est na­tion­al dis­tinc­tion in France, the Medal “Cheva­lier in the Or­der of the Le­gion d’Hon­neur” pre­sent­ed to her by the then French Am­bas­sador to T&T Charley Causeret on March 22, 2007.

On March 7, 2022, Sis­ter Rétout re­ceived the Pub­lic Ser­vice Medal of Mer­it Gold for the year 2020 by Her Ex­cel­len­cy Paula-Mae Weekes, Pres­i­dent of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The pub­lished au­thor has al­so re­ceived nu­mer­ous plaques of ap­pre­ci­a­tion from the Arch­dio­cese of Port-of-Spain, Ed­i­tor-in-Chief of the Catholic News, Parish of St There­sa Barataria and grate­ful friends.

Sis­ter Marie Thérèse, cel­e­brates her 100th birth­day to­day—April 23, and says she feels ho­n­oured to at­tain the mile­stone age of 100.

“I thank God for cre­at­ing me and for help­ing me to live ac­cord­ing to His will. I am full of grat­i­tude and lov­ing care. I feel hap­py and ho­n­oured to live to make it to 100 years.”

Sis­ter Marie Thérèse is a French na­tive who ar­rived in Trinidad from Paris on Feb­ru­ary 9, 1952 at the age of 30.

She not­ed that though it was not an easy life, it has been one of sac­ri­fi­cial love.

She re­called that ini­tial­ly she did not want to move to Trinidad.

“I did not want to come to Trinidad but they say God is a Tri­ni and that must be true. I saw the beau­ti­ful soul of the peo­ple. I love Trinidad. I love To­ba­go,” said Sis­ter Marie Thérèse.

On Fri­day, Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices, Don­na Cox vis­it­ed the Cen­te­nar­i­an at the Holy Name Con­vent to ho­n­our her, as part of the Min­istry’s Na­tion­al Cen­te­nar­i­an Pro­gramme and to be­stow ear­ly birth­day greet­ings on her.

“It is not every day some­one turns one hun­dred, so the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices through the Di­vi­sion of Age­ing has de­cid­ed we will cel­e­brate all per­sons one hun­dred years and over,” Min­is­ter Cox said be­fore join­ing in singing and cel­e­brat­ing Sis­ter Marie Thérèse.

Sis­ter Marie Thérèse spent 70 years in Trinidad and To­ba­go and ded­i­cat­ed 20 years of ser­vice in the area of ed­u­ca­tion at the St Do­minic’s Chil­dren’s Home in Bel­mont, Port-of-Spain, and 17 years of car­ing for the poor in Barataria and en­vi­rons.

Min­is­ter Cox thanked her for her out­stand­ing work to­wards the poor and vul­ner­a­ble in T&T.

Min­is­ter Cox pre­sent­ed Sis­ter Rétout with a Cer­tifi­cate of Ho­n­our and Achieve­ment, a food ham­per and a per­son­alised birth­day cake from the Kiss Bak­ing Com­pa­ny.