Albertha Payne is 104 years old

By Anastasha Elliott

A Bath Village resident on Wednesday celebrated her 104th birthday with family and friends

Alberta Payne — or Sister Payne, as some call her — is still going strong, with a happy disposition and an always-ready laugh.

However, she has stopped doing certain things due to her age.

A bad knee prevents her from going to church and — at the insistence of her children — she has stopped cooking and washing dishes.

She is the eldest living person in her family, and her community, and holds a wealth of information about the history and life of the people of Nevis.

Payne said she has led a humble life with God in her heart. She is thankful for life and its many riches, despite being the only one in her family left from her era.

She has given birth to four children; three girls and one boy.

Payne has been blessed to see her family grow and to witness the achievements of her off-springs and their off-springs.

She said only her children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren remain now, and for that she is thanks God.

On her birthday Payne said she was feeling “happy in the Lord.”

“I serve my God all the time. But I am going to serve him more this day with thanks and the praise, honor for what he has done for me, because you know not one man can do it,” Payne said.

She was presently surprised when a nephew who lives in the US showed up at her home. Payne, with laughter, greeted him with a hug.

Born in 1902, Payne was raised in Nevis and has said that the farthest she has gone from the island is to St. Kitts, where she says she has family.

“I was born here, I was raised here and I am going to die here,” Payne said. “My children have offered me trips to go places, but I have never made up my mind to go.”

What’s the secret of a long life?

“If the lord lend you the life then you will live it. You can’t wish for it. If you live close to god and ask god to help you, he is not a hard dealing master, he deals with us according to our sins,” Payne said. “He is a God of pity and of grace and of love and he love his children,”

Payne had a message for the youths.

“We all are sinners, we born in sin, but we are shaped in inequity,” She said.

She said that when you go to the heavenly father and ask him to forgive you, he will.

“Put your trust and confidence in almighty God,” she said.

She warned that some people have the devil and some have God and some still, have enemies.

“You cannot expect to go to heaven with all that in your heart. You have to have a pure heart and ask god forgiveness,” Payne said.

Payne said she talks to the young people.

“I see them talking back to their parents and swearing at them. I don’t encourage that. You must always respect your parents,” she said.

Payne related that when she was a child her grandmother would send her to the shop. Her grandmother would spit on the step, and if that step dried before she got back she would get a beating.

She recounted this tale with a laugh and said that was how she was brought up by her grandmother and that is how she raised her children.

“Not a sole can make a complaint and say that my children meet them trouble and them in the street, because I dealt with my children, and taught them to have self respect. I don’t study foolishness. I put my heart on god,” said Payne.