Welcome to the 6th in our series on centenarians. Our subject is Violet Brown, a Jamaican who lived from 3/10/1900 to 9/15/2017, a total of 117 years, 189 days. She is #6 on the list of all-time longest-lived people and was the oldest living person, for 5 months in 2017. In fact, two years ago today, she was the oldest lilving person.
Violet is the only Jamaican on the list of the ten longest-lived people. She was the last surviving person to have been a subject of Queen Victoria, because she was born when Jamaica was part of the British Empire.
Mrs. Brown was born in Duanvale, which is in the Northwest of the island of Jamaica. She was married and had six children. Her first child lived to be 97 and is believed to have been the oldest person with a living parent. Her surviving children founded the Violet Mosse Foundation. Mosse was her maiden name, and they chose to use that for some reason. The Violet Mosse Foundation is a nonprofit support organizaation for contributing to the well-being of elderly persons.
As a young girl, Violet served as a butler, but she spent most of her life as a farmer. She was also an organist in her church.
Quality of Life:
Violet died in a hospital where she had been admitted due to dehydration and an irregular heartbeat. An article in the Jamaican Observer in 2017 said she was healthier than her five remaining children and had no ailments. She was shown playing a keyboard in an article in 2007, when she was 107. At 107 she was cooking and cleaning house for herself. She had “devotion and bible reading” and played her organ at home on Sundays.
Diet:
She ate everything except pork and chicken.
Secret for Longevity:
She said there is no secret formula, but she did not drink. She also credited her unwavering faith in God.
What do we learn?
Faith is a common theme. It is known to increase lifespan because it reduces stress, which is a vicious killer. Keeping active mentally by doing different things like playing the organ can also help. I was recently told this by my doctor. For example if you work with computers most of the time, take dancing lessons. Just staying active is a simple way to live longer, and I have to think that being active physically as a farmer contributed to Violet’s long life.
So if you want to live a long, happy, healthy, active life, do some gardening, play an instrument, and practice your faith.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldest_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violet_Brown
https://web.archive.org/web/20150731115532/http://jamaica-star.com/thestar/20070716/time/time1.html
Weight 7-day Avg. (change since Jan 2018): 211 (-66)
Workout time: 0 Minutes
Total Distance (total since Nov 2017): 0 Miles (464.04)
Steps: 3,246
Muscle Mass 7-day Avg. (change since Aug 2018): 156.29 (+13)
Body Fat 7-day Avg.: 26%
Daily Sleep Duration 7-day Avg: 5 hours
2019 Goal: 15% Body Fat