David Grimmond is a shadow of what he was just ten years ago but at the very ripe old age of one hundred and four he still moves around, sits up straight, has his eyesight and can respond to questions – that is, if you shout as his hearing has deteriorated over the years.
He remembers that he was born on November 8 and that he will be 105 this year but that is about it as he now can no longer remember his wife’s name or the names of his children. His daughter Rose said her dad’s memory had sadly left him in recent years and just about ten years ago he could have been referred to as a “good history book.”
He grew up right opposite Fort Nassau which was once the headquarters of the Dutch in Berbice, and was among the places which the revolutionaries controlled during the Berbice uprising 250 years ago. Rose said he would tell stories of seeing the remnants of a “Dutch” ship that had sunk at the location before it was eventually removed.
David and his wife Avril now spend their time sitting; he looks at the river flowing by while she maybe listens to the chirping of the birds since she has lost her eyesight. At 85 Avril Grimmond is still very lucid and she told the Sunday Stabroek that she listens to the news and
