Christopher and Adriana Ulrica Richardson of North Hill, are the eldest couple alive, and reasonably well, in Anguilla. Christopher celebrated his 99th birthday on Saturday, March 19 with a thanksgiving service at which were Methodist Ministers Reverends Lindsay Richardson and Joseph Lloyd, family members and friends. His wife will be making 100 years on May 28, “God willing,” the family said.

Christopher and wife Adriana

They were married 72 years ago at St. Mary’s Anglican Church. The union produced two sons Claude and Henry and two daughters, Valerie and Helen. There is also an adopted daughter, Clarice Beard. The couple live virtually independently at their residence.

Christopher, who reads without glasses and has a sharp memory, attributes his long life to “good clean living and wholesome food.”

A backyard farmer until recently, he worked in the salt industry at the Road and West End Ponds; he served for some years at the Sombrero Lighthouse where he endured two destructive hurricanes, including Donna which blew down the tower. He also served as a sailor and cook on a number of boats.

L-R standing: Henry & Ludie Richardson and Claude & Muriel Richardson

He laughed as he recalled surviving two shipwrecks. One was when The Liberator, on which he was travelling to Curacao, struck a reef in the waters around that area. Not only did he save himself, but the life of a six-old girl, among others. That child, now a prominent figure in Anguilla, is Mrs. Veronica Gumbs, wife of Reverend John A. Gumbs, who visited Christopher on his birthday.

The second shipwreck he experienced was when the boat on which he was travelling to Anguilla from Grand Case, St. Martin, struck a reef.

The grand old man, has some interesting stories to tell that need really preserving.

As he spoke about his many years of living, he stretched out his left hand: “See here, I have a long life,” he said, showing one of the folding lines in his palm extending from the base of his index finger to the top of his wrist. A long line indeed.

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