Relaxing in a recliner at his Marabella home, 100-year-old Cecil Lewis smiled as he reflected on how his children would become excited whenever the train transporting sugar cane stopped near their home. Lewis was not happy when the authorities pulled the brakes on the train service.
"I was sad because my children, when the train passing with the cane, they would go to get the cane and they would come home with a bundle of cane. They enjoyed that."
Back then, the cost of a train ticket was four cents. The train used to run on the tracks just about 100 feet from his home at Monty Street, Marabella. The father of 11, grandfather of 20 and great grandfather of eight, said he was born in Gasparillo. When his father, a teacher, died, Lewis was ten years old. He said it was his father’s wish that he, his five brothers and one sister be sent to the orphanage in Belmont.
At age 16 he began working at a sexton in a church in St James for $5 a month and was in charge of ringing the bell. Two years later, he returned to Gasparillo to live with his mother and started working at Trinidad Leaseholds Ltd in Pointe-a-Pierre, which later became Texaco and then Petrotrin.
Lewis, who was a member of the Oilfield Workers Trade Union and good friends with the union’s former president general George Weekes, retired from Petrotrin as a supervisor at age 63. Lewis moved to Marabella in 1950, just two years after he got married to his wife, Elva. She died more than a decade ago, however.
One of his favourite stores of yesteryear was Montano's store on Lower High Street, San Fernando, where he bought a pair of brown leather shoes which he still wears today on special occasions. "San Fernando has been progressive over the years," said Lewis, but he complained about the traffic congestion.
He was also sad about Petrotrin’s closure as he reflected on the good medical benefits offered to workers and their families. He would like to see more job opportunities in Marabella. "A lot of the businesses gone through when Petrotrin close. I would like to see Petrotrin open back, but I really don’t see that being feasible."
Asked about the secret to his longevity, Lewis laughed as he reflected on how many times he has been asked that question. "I always tell people, contentment. I was always contented with whatever I had, I never wanted what somebody else has."
He has no special diet. "Whatever they give me, I eat." Lewis is also fortunate to have no health complications. Although he has pain in his left knee due to cartilage deterioration, Lewis still walks a half mile every day. Although he was born on July 27, he said his birthday is also celebrated on July 29 because his birth was registered on that day. Lewis recalled that "the happiest day" of his life was recently when the San Fernando City Corporation honoured him and three other centenarians—Leoline Yearwood, 103; Phoolarjia Rampersad, 103; and May Pollard, 100.
