JAMAICA CENTENARIAN: Imogene Johnson still very active at 100 not out....she has, over many years, served devotedly as deaconess, choir member, and missionary at Church. In fact, Johnson is so dedicated to her place of worship that she has planted crops specifically to earn funds for the church.

BY ALICIA SUTHERLAND Sunday Observer staff reporter sutherlanda@jamaicaobserver.com  Sunday, November 09, 2014    MANDEVILLE, Manchester — Having celebrated her 100th birthday on September 6, Imogene Johnson is, according to members of her family, now the most senior member at Cedar Grove Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester.

Imogene Johnson occasionally exercises with a run.

Her seniority, though, is not the only distinguishing feature of her life at the church, for she has, over many years, served devotedly as deaconess, choir member, and missionary.

In fact, Johnson is so dedicated to her place of worship that she has planted crops specifically to earn funds for the church.

"She always did her investment for the church. She plant some root of cho-cho and say this cho-cho vine is just for the church. She would pick it and sell it and carry the proceeds to the church," said her daughter Dalsie Johnson-Buchanan, with whom the centenarian has been living off Brumalia Road in Mandeville since 1998.

The yield was often good, Johnson-Buchanan said, adding that her mother would also plant pumpkin to raise money for the church.

Though respiratory problems may keep her away from church, particularly when it rains, Johnson does not foresee her faith waning.

"I am always on the Lord side," she told the Jamaica Observer. "Ah live at Cedar Grove and mi and no one never quarrel. Ah soon gone home to my Jesus, and I want to live right just the same..." more