At a robust 103 years old, Viola Myles is more than just a grand old lady, she is a treasure. She turns 104 on Sunday but you wouldn't know it by being around her - she is agile, feisty, and engaging. Myles swears that her eyesight is still good, she concedes she has some problems hearing, and she also needs some assistance when walking but other than that she's just fine. That is the condition in which we found her today when we visited. She was the guest honor at a birthday party today at the Helpage Center and Keith Swift had a chat with the birthday girl who had that perpetual twinkle in her eye.
Viola Myles: I don't feel no way, I am just Viola, that's all.
KS: You have a birthday wish this year?
Viola Myles: I don't wish for nothing, anytime the Lord says to come home gial, I am ready.
KS: You don't seem ready though.
Viola Myles: I don't seem ready, cho.
KS: I am in my 20s, when you were in your twenties did you ever think you would get to be a 104?
Viola Myles: I never thought of nothing to come, I am just going, that's all.
KS: You are blest, very blest.
Viola Myles: I am. I know I am blest and I can sing the chorus. [Singing 'I am Blest.']
KS: You look full of life, at 104 are you in any pain or have constant headache or so?
Viola Myles: I feel sometimes some pain all about here and there but I don't study it. When I can't, I get up and I do what I have to do, nothing much.
KS: Do you have a secret to such a long life?
Viola Myles: I don't have any secret, only the Lord is keeping me until when he is ready for me and that is all I can tell you.
Myles came to Belize in 1929 from Jamaica with the Salvation Army. She has no kids. Again her actual 104th birthday is on Sunday.
