NEWEST CENTENARIAN – Fitzherbert McCarthy

Fitzherbert McCarthy, the newest centenarian of Barbados, celebrated his birthday with family and friends after a long life spent using his hands and knowledge working on numerous homes and other projects around the country.
His son, David McCarthy, described his father as a strong hardworking man, who dedicated most of his adult life to hard labour and supporting his family.
“For his entire life, he was a mason, built a number of houses, including the ones you see on this stretch here; and when I say built, I mean built – put up the blocks, mixed the concrete . . . everything was mixed by his hands.
“There are five houses on this lot, all belonging to the various siblings, and he built all of them except this one we are in, which is mine, and I had to fight him. He felt that at age 80, he could still be making a contribution.

I had to bring him up here under heavy guard so that he would not harass the workmen and tell them that they are doing wrong work,” he said.
He added: “He also had wide experience. He worked on the Farm Labour Programme in its early stages, beginning in the late 40s into the early 50s. When we had Hurricane Janet in ‘55 he was not here, he was actually overseas [but] he came back after the hurricane and started the rebuilding,” David recalled.
“He tended to work privately for poor people, but on occasion, he would work on some projects. For example, he did work on the construction of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital when that was started back in the day.”
During his life, Fitzherbert McCarthy has had seven children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.