Jericho icon turns 100 ... ‘Powder’ celebrates century in style

Last year, just weeks before his 99th birthday, Rudolph ‘Powder’ Cummings came face-to-face with mortality. He was admitted to hospital with gastrointestinal bleeding, required a blood transfusion, and for a time, his family feared the worst.

His daughter Claudette recalled seeing what she believed was the edge of life itself.

“It was very traumatic travelling to Kingston every day,” she said adding that each time she saw him in the hospital bed she wondered whether he would make it.

“When I first saw him I saw death,” she recalled.

His daughter Kathy admitted the family feared the worst.

“We didn’t think he was going to make,” she said.

Then something remarkable happened. Against the odds, Cummings recovered.

His daughters laughed as they recalled an unexpected sign that their father was feeling like himself again.

“We have never seen my dad in shorts,” Kathy said. “All of a sudden he started wearing it because he felt young.”

For Claudette, who made the daily trips to the University Hospital of the West Indies in Papine, St Andrew during his hospital stay, the experience remains emotional.

“It was very traumatic travelling to Kingston every day,” she said adding that each time she saw him in the hospital bed she wondered whether he would make it.

“When I first saw him I saw death,” she recalled.

But Cummings slowly regained his strength and was released from hospital two weeks before his 99th birthday. His turnaround became a powerful reminder of her faith.

“To see him here we can say God is a good God because he can do more than we are ever able to ask for,” she said.

Last Friday, he celebrated his centenary at his home in Jericho, Linstead, St Catherine, surrounded by a host of family, friends and well-wishers. At first glance, few would guess that the man still occasionally serving customers from a small grocery shop in his yard is a centenarian.

“Mi feel good, feel like mi a 10,” he told THE STAR with a smile.

Ask Cummings the secret to reaching 100, and he will not mention diet or exercise first.

He points instead to faith.

“I give my heart to God because if you have money and nuh give you heart to God, the money don’t value nothing,” he said.

A lifelong member of Jericho Baptist Church in the community, Cummings still attends services whenever he can and keeps active with regular walks. For the centenarian, a relationship with God has been his greatest source of purpose, peace and endurance.

Asked what advice he would leave for younger generations hoping to enjoy long, meaningful lives, his answer came without hesitation.

“Give them life to God, nothing is better than that,” he replied.

These days, ‘Powder’ sits in his yard, beneath a tree, just a few steps from the shop, watching the life he built stretch out before him. The shaded spot is his favourite place—not just for the breeze, but for the view. From there, he can see the land he worked for and the shop now operated by his daughter, Claudette Samuels.

“This is the first piece a land I ever buy,” he said.

From that same vantage point, memories flow easily—decades of work and sacrifice. Cummings spent 10 years in England and also worked as a plumber for several decades across parts of Jamaica including St James, Clarendon, Manchester and St Catherine.

“I did all sort of work, not one sort of work, different, different work,” he said, adding that his sole mission was providing for his family.

“My ‘missis’ take care of them,” he said of his children. “I was a man who was out working the money and when me come in a she sends them go school.”

Evelyn Cummings, who he fondly describes as “my beautiful wife” sits beside him and listens quietly, occasionally filling a gap in his memories. After more than 70 years of marriage, she remains proud of the family they built together.

“It was seven, and some for him outside,” she said about the number of children they raised. “It was good. I readied them for school, or church, and they were good. They are good still. They don’t want us to do any work now,” she said.

For the centenarian, a relationship with God has been his greatest source of purpose, peace and endurance. He is known for calmness, patience, and generosity in his community.

Claudette, who now runs the family shop, said customers never encountered a harsh word or “screw face” from her father. If someone appeared to be buying too little food for a large family, he quietly slipped a few extra items into the bag. Children walking home from school rarely passed the shop without receiving a sweet or a ‘suck-suck’.

Ricky, a resident of Jericho, described Cummings as a stalwart in the community

“This man is grassroots [man] [so] to see him turn 100 is a milestone for me. I never see somebody turn 100,” said.

Ricky has been gathering around Cummings’ domino table for more than half a century. “Mi deh here long before mi can play, and that is over some 50 add years, and it’s still going,” he said.

But life was not without danger.