At 100, Kathleen Casserly remains spirited, witty
Published:Monday | June 24, 2024 | 12:05 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU :
Kathleen Angela Casserly, who is known for her quick quips, and witty jabs remains a spirited personality enjoying her golden years in the community of Ironshore, St James.
Casserly became a centenarian on June 15 this year where she celebrated the accomplishment with some of her children, friends and caregivers cutting cake and sharing memories of her historic journey in arriving at this milestone.
She was born in 1924 in the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and was the only girl for her parents, a situation she detested, indicating that she had grown weary of growing up around boys.
“I was an only girl, and I begged my parents to give me a sister, but that didn’t happen, therefore, I had to follow behind my brothers, all of my childhood days,” Casserly said, reflecting on her days growing up with her siblings.
In her journey towards her 100th birthday, Casserly was blessed with six children who in return gave her six grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
She was married three times, and gained employment in the airline industry, working for British West Indian Airways (BWIA), now Caribbean Airlines. There she worked as a Steward (or flight attendant) for five years, tending to the needs of passengers and crew before calling time on her career to become a full-time housewife and caring for her six children, after more than five years working in the industry.
While she was not immediately recalling the exact year when she entered into her first, matrimonial bond, Casserly said her first husband was Carlton Goodard.
Together, they had their first two children Richard Goddard and Robert Goddard, and at one point in their childhood days had lived in the Seville Great House in St Ann.
Her second marriage was to Sunny Steel, an airline pilot who flew for BWIA, and together they produced four children, Debra Steel, Stephen Steel, Craig Steel, and Carol Steel.
Angela, as she is commonly called in her community and family circles, later extended her hand in marriage for a third time, this time to Derryck Casserly, the son of Gerainte Casserly, who was an overseer at the Seville Guest.
While he didn’t produce any biological children with his wife, Derryck fathered the four children Catherine had from her second marriage.
Fell in love with Ja
She told The Gleaner that she fell in love with Jamaica and its people from her days of flying in and out of the island working with BWIA as a Steward.
“Jamaica is a beautiful country and you can’t get better than this,” Casserly said of her adopted home.
During her time in the airline industry, Casserly revealed that she was the first choice when it comes to flight attendants being rostered, especially for new destinations because of her height, beauty, and pleasing personality.
“Yes, it was very beautiful, but besides that, people were interested in my long legs and attractive buttocks,” Casserly quipped.
“I was also in modeling in those days, which gave me an edge over other stewards in the airline business,” said Casserly, a Trinidadian by birth.
“Mama was that beautiful and carried with it a nice slender shape in her younger days,” said her 75-year-old son Robert, who is married to Primla.
Robert, who is a retired educator and hotelier, said his mother is a spirited woman who cared for her children without giving a second thought to her own detriment.
Primla shared that her mother-in-law has been a resilient woman who doesn’t know what it means to give up.
“Based on what I know about my mother-in-law, she loves her children, and she would pack her bag with the extra and unserved sandwiches at the end of her flights and bring home for her children,” said Primla.
According to her, Casserly was a lover of animals and children alike, and even up to the point of her last marriage she was pushing to have more children.
Debra Steel said her mother has been and continues to be her ultimate role model, who she noted is, in fact, a strong, independent woman.
“She loved her children fiercely, like a lioness to her cubs and she would fight to the death for us,” Steel said of her mother.
Further, she shared that quite feisty, but remains kind and that she taught her and her siblings humility and kindness.
Dr Carol Thompson-Forbes, who was present for Casserly’s centenary birthday celebrations, said her family and the centenarian’s family have a long and lasting bond.
Thompson-Forbes, who is also an on-call emergency doctor with G-West Medical Centre, said Casserly is a very strong and healthy woman.
“Outside of needing help to move around, her mind is very sharpe and she stills gives her witty jabs,” Thompson-Forbes explained.