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An Interview with GTC’s Oldest Female Resident
- GTC Community Connections
- Feb 17
- 3 min read
On February 6, 2024, the grade 3 and 4
students involved in the after school
Community Connections Reporting class
interviewed Viola (Ma Ola) Sawyer.
Following is the article written by the
class, based on the notes that they took during the interview. It is a reflection of what they thought readers would be interested in knowing about the island’s oldest female resident. The photos of Ma Ola and her treasures were also taken by the students.
Ma Ola was born April 15, 1935, on Green Turtle Cay. She is the oldest woman on the island, at 88 years of age. When she was young, she lived on a farm in Sand Banks
(before Treasure Cay was there.) There was only one other farm there so she did not have many neighbours and her best friend was her younger brother. She brought to the interview a basket in which her father carried his lunch to work every day. Her dad was a carpenter and built many houses and boats on Green
Turtle Cay. In the basket she brought some treasures that she has saved over the years and kept safe during Dorian. She brought her favourite toys from her youth:
two dolls. She also showed us the slate (small blackboard) that she wrote on in school, since they did not have books in which to write.
Below Left: Ma Ola’s dollies
Below right: Close-up of slate used in
school (Visible is her name)
Before they moved to the island, every couple of weeks they came to Green Turtle Cay where weeks they came to Green Turtle Cay where she went to school. Her favourite subject was arithmetic (math.) In those days boats did not have motors. They only
had sails so travel between the islands was slow and hard.
On the farm they had chickens and dogs. They grew cabbage, tomatoes and sugar cane. There was no store in Sand Banks and there was no road to Marsh Harbour then. So they bought supplies in Green TurtleCay when they came over. They did not have pork or
beef but ate lots of fish that they caught, for example grunts and yellow tail. People had outdoor stone ovens where they cooked and baked.
They had no telephones in those early days. If they needed help, they would build a fire on the beach and hoped that someone would see the smoke and send a boat to help. Her family eventually moved to live full time on Green Turtle Cay. In those days most people on the island worked in fishing and carpentry. Crawfish and shark were the main exports. Shark fins and skins were sent by boat to the United States.
The road only went as far as the top of the hill by the ball field. There were no golf carts or cars. Everyone walked wherever they needed to go on the island. There were about 200 people living on Green Turtle Cay at that time.
Ms Viola met her husband, Joe, on Green Turtle Cay. To have fun, young people would go to dances in people’s homes. There was a house where Lowe’s Food Store used to be, with a large front room where they would dance. Islanders provided the music, playing saws, guitars and banjoes. (She still has Joe’s guitar and banjo.)
Joe was a fishing guide. He took many famous people out fishing. They had four sons: Reggie, Ronnie, Donny and Roddie. There was no hospital on the island so women gave birth at home, with the help of a mid-wife. The mid-wife’s name was Miss Mary. Mr. Kendrick was a missionary who came to the island and became the island doctor. Ma Ola has seven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. She remembers when women got the right to vote. It was shortly after she had given birth to Reggie. She knew it was important and she voted.
When asked, Ma Ola said that her favourite colour is pink. With a big laugh, she said, “You can’t go wrong with pink!”
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