Kenneth Samuels thanks God for life at 105

WESTERN BUREAU:

Retired pastor Kenneth George Samuels counts it a blessing to have lived to see his 105th birthday, which he celebrated with his relatives and other loved ones at his Bogue Heights home in Montego Bay, St James, on September 11.

“I am thankful for another year that God has blessed me with. I feel okay, just a little tired, and I am ready whenever the Lord closes my eyes, ready to rest. I have been a faithful servant of God for many years, and He has seen it fit to bless me with long life,” said Samuels, who is currently gets around with a wheelchair.

“I have faithfully served God, and He has been good to me. I used to do a lot of walking every morning, about two to three miles, but I am not able to do that anymore; plus, I have done healthy eating over the years, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, and chicken and fish,” Samuels explained.

Born in Home Hill district in St James on September 11, 1921, Samuels was one of seven children for parents George Samuels and Princess Jones, though he lived at one point with his maternal grandparents. A student of Barracks Road Primary School, he eventually dropped out in order to assist his family, but later took and passed the school’s Level 3 exam, which was available at the time.

“My grandfather, Isaac Jones, would carry me out with him to work in the field very early in the morning. My grandmother, Elizabeth, would give me hot cocoa or chocolate to drink, and we would be out all day. I would also stone birds as a past-time,” the centenarian recalled. “I was baptised during a crusade at age 15, and I carried stones for the building of the new Montego Bay Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church at 30 Church Street, with the old church having been located on Barnett Street.”

In 1947, at age 26, Samuels attended the West Indies Training College, now Northern Caribbean University in Mandeville, and graduated four years later with a degree in theology. He served as an intern pastor in the East Jamaica Conference of SDA Churches until he earned his Masters of Divinity in 1957, following which he served in the SDA Church’s Eastern Caribbean Conference, the South Leeward Conference, the Northern Caribbean Conference, and eventually the West Jamaica Conference.

During this time, he met and married Anita Gwendolyn Nembhard in 1954, and their union produced one daughter, two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. After her passing in 1979, he married a second wife, Cislyn Blair, and they remain together today.

DEDICATED FAMILY MAN

Daughter Jacqueline Dawn Samuels-Plummer described Samuels as a dedicated family man whose singing voice could rouse any congregation that he was part of.

“My most notable memory of my dad is his love for the Lord, his kindness to others, his dedication to family, and also his singing voice which you could hear above the congregation, a strong and powerful baritone. My dad was a very loving, strict, and overprotective father, but he was very kind and gentle to me, and he believed in education and made sure I finished high school and college,” said Samuels-Plummer.

In the meantime, the senior Samuels said that the current generation has lost its sense of family togetherness, compared to Jamaica when he was younger.

“When I was young, we had grandparents, or even great-grandparents, plus aunts and uncles who were all part of the family and sharing together, but now everyone is so busy and there is no time to enjoy the closeness of family. We must get back to God, who is our Creator and Sustainer, and we must be faithful and teach our children about God,” said Samuels.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com