Rose Caines

Her sister Mary died in 2005 aged 105.

Mrs Caines’s family name was Brown, and she was born in Parsons Ground, St. Kitt’s. The family later moved to Dieppe Bay, and as a young woman, Mrs Caines went to live and work in Basseterre, and then moved to the island of Aruba, just off the Venezuelan coast.

Resourceful and entrepreneurial, and the Second World War now underway, she set up a team to do the laundry for the soldiers based on the island, and she also directed her dynamism towards helping family and friends secure jobs at the Lago Oil refinery.

She was a member of the Women’s Brigade and the island’s women’s cricket team, travelling to a number of different islands in the Caribbean to play matches.

Her two husbands, Pepe and Zachariah, both died in 
Aruba, and retiring from 
active involvement in the life of her community, she came to Leeds to live with her daughter Eldica.

She frequently returned to the West Indies to see relatives and care for young ones so their parents could develop their careers.

At home, she was always on hand to take care of her immediate family, but did like to watch wrestling, often talking about her favourite wrestler “Kid Chocolate”, and she played Bingo up to the age of 102.

Strong, firm and independent, a woman who had endured much, overcoming setbacks and tragedies, she was remarkable for her tenacity and indomitable spirit.

She maintained that her long life was due to hard work and eating plenty of fish.

Mrs Caines is survived by her daughter Eldica, her grandchildren Len, Val, Carlton and Keith, and by nine great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren.