The central personality of my feature this week is none other than Ruth Ann Marie Simons and the celebrations accorded her on her 101st birthday.

She’s one remarkable woman; blessed by the Almighty God to be in full possession of her faculties, sparkling more than ever.

I recalled writing how she had hit her century a year ago, in all her glory; sparkling, unwrinkled, displaying an indescribably beautiful smile.

She seemed on Sunday last to have simply “accentuated the positive”!

Ruth is the mother of six, all but one of whom survive, and the daughter of the late Clifford Burrows.

The family were upstanding members of the religious and cultural life of Somerset and the community at large. Their old homestead is still visible, situated on the water’s edge of Ely’s Harbour.

Sunday’s celebration was at the Lorraine Rest Home in Warwick, where Ruth resides. There was an invasion, a steady flow of family and friends including nearly 50 of her grandchildren and great-great-grands. Those unable to attend for one reason or another sent greetings, some in the form of poetry, from the United States and England.

The gathering lustily sang Happy Birthday to Ruth in six different tones. She is a regular worshipper at the Praise Palace Church of God. Its pastor, Dwayne Simons, was accompanied by his wife Judy.

He invoked God’s blessing on the celebration and spoke highly about Ruth’s faith as a worshipper.

I remember the family from “back in the day”, some 80-plus years ago when I was a budding reporter for the Bermuda Recorder newspaper. Ruth was raised as a beautiful young queen; the jewel of her father’s eye. He was not a cricketer, but one of the iconic administrators of Somerset Cricket Club, particularly at Cup Match time.

He was famed for his impediment of speech, being known Island-wide as “Anna, Anna”, because that’s how he would preface mostly every point he wanted to make.

It is easy to imagine how Ruth, like others before her time and since, had dreamed of walking down the long aisle of St James Church, Somerset, as a bride.

No other church in the country lends itself so advantageously to accentuating the beauty and drama of a traditional Bermuda wedding.

Ruth married the great Somerset Cup Match star Arthur Simons (more on him can be gleaned from my 120-page book CHAMP! The One and Only Alma Hunt more than 76 years ago. It was the “wedding of the year”. Yours Truly was at their fabulous reception, being well on the way then as a young reporter.

After his cricketing days, Arthur became a missionary, taking his attractive wife and their young family with him to the West Indies. Young men then were trained early in life to get their priorities in order. Work, play and saying the catechism at night was the routine.