When you’re ready to
change your life.
When you’re ready to
change the world.
Kingsborough is
here for you.
70
APPLY NOW
IN PERSON:
ONLINE:
718-368-4600
www.kbcc.cuny.edu
KINGSBOROUGH
COMMUNITY COLLEGE
2001 Oriental Boulevard, Brooklyn NY, 11235
Caribbean L 8 ife, April 19–25, 2019 BQ
By Nelson A. King
The Friends of Sion Hill,
Inc., a Brooklyn-based, Vincentian
community group, on
Saturday, April 13 honored Vincentian
centenarian Mitchinson
“Mitchie” James with its
Longevity Award.
“Our special centenarian left
many half his age in the audience
with positive intuition,”
Oxley Lowman, the group’s
president, told Caribbean Life
after the five-plus-hour-long
ceremony at the Friends of
Crown Heights Educational
Center in Brooklyn.
“Living over 100 years old
is not only hard work but sacrifice,”
he added. “Many of us
may never come close to reaching
100 years.”
In introducing his granddad,
Cyson Davis said he looked
up to him every day.
“What amazes me is how
sharp he is,” he said. “I asked
him how he did it, and he said,
‘no stress, and I take a shot (of
liquor) every day.’”
In accepting the award,
James, now 101, said eating
right and living good with
“your fellow men” contributed
to his longevity.
Then, he added to huge
laughter: “Don’t make your
wife give you stress.”
The Friends of Sion Hill,
Inc. also honored former
West Indies fast bowler Winston
Davis with its Lifetime
Achievement Award; Ardon
Browne (Community Service
Award); late Evangelist Dr. William
Muckett, also known as
“Brother Muckett” (Outstanding
Leadership Award); Muckett’s
widow, Claudette Muckett
(Pillar of the Community
Award); and journalist Dr. Nelson
A. King (Diaspora Award).
“It’s a pleasure and an honor
to be standing here on behalf of
my dad,” said Cathy Muckett-
Drummond, in accepting her
late father’s award.
“My father passed six years
ago,” she added. “I know he
deserved it (award).”
Last year, the Brooklynbased
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Ex-Police Association,
U.S.A., Inc. honored James
with its Lifetime Achievement
Award.
James — a former sergeant
in the Royal St. Vincent and
the Grenadines Police Force,
who resides in East Flatbush
in Brooklyn with his daughter,
Hazel Morris — was presented
with the award at the group’s
Anniversary Celebration Gala
and Awards Presentation at the
Friends of Crown Heights Educational
Center.
The son and last child of the
late Weston and Adina James,
James, as a boy, said he grew
up in a “relatively poor and
stringent environment,” crediting
his sister, Eulyn, for his
upbringing after his mother’s
death,” when he was only five
months old.
He said the South Rivers
Methodist School in St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, together
with the Methodist Church and
the community, provided “love,
strength and hope” in shaping
his character.
Vincentian centenarian Mitchinson “Mitchie” James receives
award from Glenroy “Goebells” Phillips (l) fl anked by
James’s grandson Cyson Davis. Photo by Nelson A. King
On Aug. 10, 1942, James said
he enlisted in the Royal St.
Vincent and the Grenadines
Police Force (RSVGPF), with
the number, 29.
He was one of six young men
in training at the time. The
force had a complement of 59
policemen, led by British Police
Chief, Jenkins. James served
the RSVGPF for 23 years.
He said the high point of his
career was working in all police
stations in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines but one, Stubbs, in
South Windward.
In an exclusive interview
with Caribbean Life, shortly
after he turned 100, on Jan.
27, 2018, James said he had no
medical complications whatsoever.
Vincy centenarian honored
with Longevity Award
/www.kbcc.cuny.edu
/www.kbcc.cuny.edu