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Farmer Rowe - still as strong as an ox

100-year-old Sidney Rowe. - contributed

SYDNEY ROWE HAS reached a 100 years old, but he is as strong as ever and continues his lifelong career as a farmer.

Rowe was born June 8, 1906, and at an early age he was forced to drop out of school to care for his brothers and sisters. "He is the first child and his father went away and his mother died and he had to drop out of school and take care of them," Winsome Rowe, his daughter told THE STAR.

Mr. Rowe is from St. Thomas but later moved to the bread basket parish of St. Elizabeth and has been a farmer all his life.

He lives in Bellview District in Southfield and continues to farm every day. "He is still growing his garden. He will go early in the morning and come back and then go in the afternoon," his daughter said.

Mr. Rowe remembers the October 1933 storm as the worst one he has seen. He said the early days were quite different, noting that when he went to school, he used a slate and several pencils to take notes in class.

He remembers drinking arrow root porridge and eating cured corned pork, things he does not see these days. He also notes that they had no electricity, and had to use a milk tin called Kitchen Bitch, and also used cassava starch to iron clothes. He also noted that discipline back then was important.

"Everyone had manners," he says. "There was no crime, no killing and everything was peaceful."

Rowe attends the St. Mark Anglican Church where he is the oldest member.

He is the only surviving sibling and has four children and 12 grandchildren with his oldest child being 51 years old. He has good eyesight and is still in good health, a factor he attributes to his continued farming which keeps him active.