Saturday, August 5, 2023 was a memorable day for the family of late Loveday Dublin-Green as they feted their matriarch, Prescilia Waridibo Loveday Dublin-Green who turned 87 years on Friday, July 7, 2023, in a grand style at their country home in Bonny, Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State.

Well-wishers, friends and family comprising her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren flocked around Mrs. Dublin Green dressed in different dainty attires worn in style as they cheerfully sang birthday songs to her.

The celebrant, who hails from Enyinna/Ida-Nangwo Burusu, was married to late Loveday Tamunotonye Ephraim Dublin-Green of Alali Burusu, also of Dublin-Green Major House of ancient Grand Bonny Kingdom, with whom she had Japhet, Daniel, Martha, and two others of blessed memory, and a long list of step-children and grandchildren.

According to her children, the eldest surviving one being Japhet Loveday Dublin-Green, the plan to celebrate her has been on for a long time and eventually “saw the light of day on this fateful Saturday.

In a chat with Kristina Reports, Japhet said celebrating their mum brought a sense of fulfilment to him and the family at large after several postponements.

“We actually celebrated her on the 6th but her birthday was actually 7th of July, but we had to postpone because we were actually considering the weather, she is 87, and I’m sure she is counting her 88 already”.

“Well it was my younger ones, the grandchildren just woke up one morning and decided that they wanted to celebrate grandma. They were doing their thing in their own way like two three months ago, I was hearing birthday, birthday.”

“At some point, I had call my younger brother and said ‘oboy, we have to key into this thing if we dey, these children go just run us down, you know that kind of thing. So, we got involved, of course, when we get involved you know na, just like when hyena, dogs they are playing, when the lion comes, so that was how we decided to do this.”

“This same thing before my elder sister died, 2005, she had this plan, with my dad, my mum, you know something that will get us a group picture. We missed it, she died, we were still, okay when are we going to do this thing? Five years after my dad died in 2010.”

“So, you see when these kids, the grand children came up to say they were going to do this thing, we keyed in to it and, honestly speaking, if you ask me, in spite of the money spent, we got fulfilment.”

“Though you can’t imagine my mum at 87, she danced for like 30 minutes, I was even saying hmm, they should guide this woman o; she danced as if she was 30 or 40 years younger. The next day, which was Sunday, she was still strong, she came to my house to visit me. I think I’m fulfilled; I think the family is fulfilled.”

describing his mum as a persistent woman who never gives up easily, the head of the Loveday Dublin Green family, said his mother was a “wonderful woman, a mother who will want to do anything for her children to be like other people’s children.”

“A mother who is ready to go all the length, do all kinds of menial jobs, just to make sure we went to school, a mother who has an open hand to accommodate other people’s children even when it’s difficult to feed her own children, she is that kind of mother.”

On his part, Daniel Loveday Dublin-Green, the second eldest son of the celebrant, expressed joy for having the opportunity to celebrate his mother and gratitude to her for raising them in the way of the Lord, he describes her as a good woman such that everyone calls her “Mama”.

“Seriously, I am overwhelmed, sincerely up till now, I am much more than being happy and glad, in fact, if I start enumerating what our mother represents, it will take long time”.

“Firstly, she loves Almighty God so much, that’s why she brought us up in the way and fear of God, she mostly loves being in the vineyard of Almighty God, at all times, especially in her younger ages, and she loves fasting and prayers, singing and dancing”.

“She a mother indeed, not just to us her biological children alone, but to her stepchildren and every other child out there, that’s why everyone who comes across her calls her “Mama.”

“She loves giving things to other children before giving to her own children. She loves treating everybody equally, loves everyone without sentiments, she sacrifices a lot to people; she doesn’t bother if she knows you or not. In fact, she loves making people happy or seeing people in happy mode. She loves discipline, advice, peace, truth, charity, etc.”

Meanwhile, one of her grandchildren, Amonigha Brian Hart said they took out time to celebrate her birthday because “it’s best to celebrate people when they are alive. Initially, this whole birthday idea was put together by just the grandchildren. We just wanted to do something little no matter how little because if you keep waiting for when you have so much, that time may never come.”

“Personally, I keep telling her, don’t worry, I’ll take care of you when I’m there you know, but if I keep waiting for that when I’m there, she might not be there by that time. So, we all decided that no matter how little, let’s just do something, and our older ones bought into the idea and that’s how it escalated into a massive birthday bash, and we were happy.”

“I feel very happy that I got to do this because I don’t have my mum to do it for and I’m grateful to God that I still have her, I mean 87 years is not a joke. I still have her to do something like this for, so I went all out, everybody went all out to the best of their capacity to make sure that this whole birthday came to a success, and it was beautiful and one full of wonderful memories.”

“She was very excited, I could see how she was smiling, I was actually very emotional but I had to form hard girl because I am representing the first daughter, beautiful thing to behold, I am people came out to support us doing something like this not for her funeral.”

Highlights of the day included a Special Open Air Thanksgiving Service conducted by Pastor Davis Etuk, diverse cultural dance performances, and tons of tributes to the ever happy celebrant who kept dancing and spicing up the event with her jiggling vibes.