SLIDE SHOW: Photos taken at Tia's 100 Year Birthday Party. Photos: Derek Carroll

Nathalie Smith, affectionately known as 'Tia' to those close to her, will turn 100 years old next month, "with the help of the good Lord."

In an interview with The Freeport News yesterday, surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great-grand children, Smith recalled what it was like living in The Bahamas during her early years, having to rely on farming just to survive.

"Things were so bad back then especially in Grand Bahama, it was too poor to live," she said. "But today, Grand Bahama is doing much better. It is one of the head cities."

Smith explained that she and her family grew everything from peas to sweet potato and corn.

"That is how we had to make it back then. All of the families were in that position."

SLIDE SHOW: Photos taken at Tia's 100 Year Birthday Party. Photos: Derek Carroll

Married at 28 years old, Smith said that her husband, Harold, was a carpenter who did his best to provide for her and their children.

"He was a nice and loving man, so honest they called him Honest Jacob," she recalls.

She added that when he died 60 years ago, many men came to court her, but she refused them all because "if my husband were to come back, he would meet me the same way he left me."

Smith said that to make ends meet she would sew dresses for everyone in the community, but wedding dresses were her favourite.

She was also able to open a "petty shop," which eventually expanded to a general store, "The Family Shop," that serviced the Grand Bahama community, from West to East End.

As a member of a local lodge, Smith said she was able to travel all around the world, and has lived a fulfilling life with no regrets.

"All the days of my life I have been truly thankful because I have lived a peaceful and honest life on this earth, every day remembering that it is God who has given me the strength to make it," she said.

"If I had to live those days again, I would do the same things I did, always mindful that I am only passing through and when I go, I will say goodbye world I can't be here no longer with you because I gone home to live with my Jesus."

Although no longer able to attend church service as she would like, Smith is a Deaconess of the Central Zion Baptist Church and remains loyal to her beliefs.

SLIDE SHOW: Photos taken at Tia's 100 Year Birthday Party. Photos: Derek Carroll

She had 10 children, three of whom died at the same time many years ago during an outbreak of Typhoid fever, and a son named Joe, who died in his sleep several years ago at age 32.

She recalled how painful it was to lose three children at one time, saying they were all buried the same day they died because in the 1930s there were no morgues to take dead bodies or funeral homes.

"I have been through much. My husband died when I was young, I had three of my children die all in one week," she said. "Through it all, I have never gone to bed hungry or never had to beg nobody for nothing. I have never had a job in my life. I have always been working for myself and my children. "

SLIDE SHOW: Photos taken at Tia's 100 Year Birthday Party. Photos: Derek Carroll

Her advice to young people is do their best to live clean and honest. One should never practice lying, she said. It is wrong and so is stealing. She added that young people should live in fear of God as all liars and thieves go to hell and are punished for their wrong doing.

"I believe that parents ought to teach their children how to speak and not use the foul words I hear coming out of the mouth of some of today's children," she said.

Smith said that she looks forward to her upcoming birthday, but is most excited about meeting her maker.

"I am ready to meet the saints and meet my Jesus," she said. "I have lived my life and I am ready to go."