" I want my flowers and roses while I live!"

His father came from Bermuda in the late 1800's and settled in Grand Turk and worked for the Gibbs family who had ponds on the East side of Palm Grove. His father's very first job was to sleep at night on pillows which were bushel bags full of money. "Something like a modern day security guard" Josey laughed. One of Josey's earliest memories was walking overback on the East side bay from the South end of Midson Point to the lighthouse picking up drift. " In those days" he said " many coconuts would come ashore and peoples kettles".

As a young boy he spent time in Salt Cay with his aunt Margaret Goode and lived in the Governors house. One of his favorite pastimes was to fish in the Blue Hole in East Creek for Shackbar, Barracuda and Grey Snapper " The best bait," Josey reminisced " were small Shiny Sheds and Bay Sprouts, little white crabs, which were the best for catching bonefish. He
remembers running down plenty of Cowfish in the Creek, " The best way to clean them " he said, "was to chop the three sides off so you could get the meat out just as good as ever and then you can hash it, you can boil it, you can fry it and the liver does be good ".  As boys they would play with Bistermares they would find lying in the shallow grassy waters. He explained that they were "black and round and when you hold them in your hand one end does spout water. We call them seacocks!"

" Salt Cay people don't eat Nurse Shark," Josey chuckled, "because they make you sleepy. Sometimes big sharks fall asleep and you can go out and tie them down so we could skin 'em and preserve 'em in some sort of fashion then us old time people would make sharkskin shoes."

For a few years Mr. Kiel was an assistant lighthouse keeper to Mr. Ben Roberts. The two of them lived together in the yard of the old lighthouse which was built in 1851 by an English based company. As a young man back in 1912 Josey remembers the tragic day when the cargo ship the Antillion sank on the reef, N.East of the lighthouse.. " All sorts of drift came ashore, mackerel, salmon, pocket handkerchiefs and shot." exclaimed Josey. Later he recalls the hard times caused by the hurricane of 1926. Many people lost their homes and a Jamaican Mr. Henry had to build relief homes.

Mr. Kiel at the time was a coachman for Commissioner Harold Phillips and everyday would ride him into town. During his spare moments Mr. Kiel would stay on the kitchen side of the coach house and practice shooting birds out of the almond tree on the south side using scatter shot with cartridge no: 12 ." We use to call it a muscle loader . First you would pack it and put the rod in, after that you put shot in the mouth of the gun and push it well down and then you pack it some more. Stanley Cadet gave me the gun and I never missed a shot." At that time there were hundreds of Brass winged ducks in Grand Turk and snipes came in flocks to the salt ponds " See at that time," Josey explained, " many people use to grow Indian corn and guinea corn, yards were full of corn and these corn blades mostly went to feed the mules at the mule stations. Frith Robinson was the mule keeper back then . The corn was kept in corn blade houses by the ponds and at night the birds came looking for food. We would shoot those wild ducks and sell them for 50 cents.

Most folk in Grand Turk remember Mr. Kiel as a fisherman bringing home his daily catch of Conch and Sang Dangs, Tangs and Squarrel which he would sell on the bundle. Mr. Kiel warned that you had to watch out for the Squarrel Fish because they have stickers on their head. "Cut you quick as a wink,!!"....Josey said with a twinkle in his eye. It reminded him of the time he was out fishing in his skip boat over by Little Cay and he caught the biggest shark ever which when he hauled it in bit his hand until the boat was covered in blood. "I was very lucky," Josey declared ," cos if it wasn't for Dr. Martin who had just come back from the wars and had plenty of practice stitching people up I might be with my Heavenly Father right now."

Mr. Josey Kiel knows only too well that the Old Peoples Home could do with some new.   As a living tribute to the oldest man in the Turks and Caicos a Joseph Alexander Kiel Fund has been set up with the initial goal of buying a couple of wheelchairs and material to construct a shady area in a small garden so that the seniors can take in a breathe of fresh air. "Its a wonderful idea. Bless our heavenly father. I guess I have my flowers and roses after all," smiled Josey.

Already a couple of hundred dollars has been collected from well wishers and any further donations however small can be put in an envelope marked Joseph Kiel Fund and given to your local pastor in your district.

Mr. Joseph Kiel leaves us with this powerful message which he sends out to all young people. " Be good and do good and come to the heavenly father. Remember always to bless Him and praise Him for all the things He has done and for the things He is still doing. Your soul is the greatest part of your body and if you lose your soul you lose everything !"

Written by Candy Herwin of Pirates Hideaway, Salt Cay