Supercentenarian Profile

Louise Small

Born:

1916-05-24

Dover, Saint Catherine Parish

Jamaica

Current Residence:

Spanish Town, Saint Catherine Parish

Jamaica

Louise Small, also known as Iris Duffus, is a Jamaican supercentenarian claimant who is potentially the country’s oldest living resident.

BIOGRAPHY

Louise Small was born in Dover, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica, on 24 May 1916. She was the first child born to farmers Catherine Francis and Edward Small. She grew up in Dover and moved to Old Road in Kitson Town, St. Catherine, as an adult. She attended Guanaboa Vale Primary School in the parish and later worked at Innswood Estate on the sugar plantation before venturing into small-scale farming.

She started her family in her early 20s and had four children — three daughters and one son. Her eldest children, Clifton and Ruby Lawrence, later migrated to England, while Lawner Stephenson and the youngest, Helena Anderson, who was born around 1951, remained in Jamaica. Anderson told the Jamaica Observer that her mother was always a source of strength and wisdom for the family, raising her children in a home grounded in Christian values and discipline.

In her younger years, Small worked as a subsistence farmer and midwife. She was also widely known in her community for her hospitality and her use of traditional herbal medicine. According to her great-granddaughter, she maintained a very healthy lifestyle throughout her life and was renowned for her extensive knowledge of natural remedies, rarely relying on conventional medicine. As an adult, she supported her family through farming and by vending at the Spanish Town Market, where she worked until retiring in 2000.

Small reportedly could read without glasses up to 2024.