Latest update March 29th, 2025 5:38 AM
Cousin Dossie is 104
United States overseas-based Guyanese, Dossie Gittens, aka “Cousin Dossie”, who has achieved 104 years, has been described by her immediate relatives as an amazing mother, friend and grandmother. At her age she is independent. She moves about unaided.
Her niece, Sheila Studor, said that Cousin Dossie does everything for herself and if allowed she would even cook.
Dossie Gittens migrated to the United States in the late 1970s and returned to Guyana every Christmas when she turned 100.
Cousin Dossie celebrated her 104th birth anniversary in August in the United States of America. Gittens was born in 1909 and grew up at Henrietta and Lima, Essequibo Coast.
Dossie Gittens, aka “Cousin Dossie
Studor said that her mother is being cared for by one her daughters. While Cousin Dossie is still active and attends church regularly, her daughter has restrained her from cooking (using the stove) and has since had to hire a house keeper who would stay with the centenarian during the day.
“Mommy do not like to be confined.”
Studor recalled being entrusted in the care of Cousin Dossie from the age of nine months after her biological mother died. Studor said that Cousin Dossie bore two children of her own but took under her care three of Studor’s siblings— a sister and two of her brothers.
The 75-year-old Studor recalled that her aunt, who is also her foster mother, married Nathaniel Gittens and after his demise worked at the Public Library on the Essequibo Coast. Cousin Dossie also performed duties as a domestic to sustain her family.
The woman worked tirelessly to support her family and before she migrated to the United States, she sold sugar cake and other condiments at the C.V Nunes Primary School.
Studor said that her foster mother never worked in the United States. However she took on the task of a nanny for her daughter’s two young children for a number of years.
Centenarian Dossie Gittens has 15 grandchildren, nine greatgrands and three great greatgrands. Her diet is not restricted.
Cousin Dossie suffers from mild arthritis in her back but this ailment is not a deterrent to her mobility.
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