Twin sisters Icilda Brown (left) and Irene Brown-Peterkin, 86, from Wakefieled, Trelawny. - Ian Allen By DAVID DUNKLEY, Staff Reporter
BEING a twin can be a very interesting experience, to which any twin can attest.
But why ask any twin when you can ask 86-year-old twin sisters Icilda Brown and Irene Brown-Peterkin?
With their 86 years of experience, they can tell more than most, what life as twins is like.
"It all right, me glad me have somebody who is very close to me," Icilda told THE STAR during a visit to their home in Wakefield, Trelawny.
"It no feel no way, you just kinda feel special," her sister added.
The sisters, identical twins, still look remarkably alike, although Icilda is a bit stouter and taller.
The sisters say that as far as they could remember they had never fought or even quarrelled with each other, but had always talked out their differences.
They say they did not grow together as their parents separated when they were infants, with their mother taking Icilda and their father Irene, but they kept in touch.
It was since they became adults that they spent a little time together but eventually separated again when Irene got married.
Both sisters began working on the Hampden Sugar Estate in the early 1930s. They remained there until their retirement. They say that unlike some twins, they do not share feelings. If one is feeling pain, they say, that one is on her own.
Irene, who has been married for the last 19 years, met her husband on the estate and after they retired they married. She says she is doing okay in terms of her health, but sometimes she feels pain in the back and shoulders.
She is a member of the Wakefield Baptist Church. She had six children but only one is alive. She has two grandchildren and two great-great-grand children.
Their father is now dead but Icilda still lives with and takes care of their mother who is more than 100 years old. Icilda says that apart from cataract problems and a little pain in the shoulders, she is doing very well.
She had 10 children, five daughter and five sons, but one of the daughters died. All the others, she says, live in and around Trelawny. She said she has a lot of grand, great-grand and great-great grandchildren.
The women are from a family of twins and from all indications, that trend will continue. Both their parents were twins and their grand parents also were twins. To top it off they have grand and great-grand twins.
