A member of a secret civil rights group that helped desegregate Bermuda at great personal risk in the late 1950s finds herself with much to be thankful for after turning 100.

Izola Harvey celebrated the centennial milestone on Sunday with a well attended party at the Hamilton Princess & Beach Club.

Ms Harvey subsequently The Royal Gazette she attributed her good health to her friends, family and community.

She added: “I’m thankful for the blessings that have been bestowed on me. God has been really, really good to me.

“I have a caregiver who treats me well and she lives with me, so that enables our daughters to live their lives comfortably.”

Ms Harvey said her party came with a visit from the Premier.

Ms Harvey and her late husband, Gerald Harvey, were instrumental in distributing news of the 1959 Theatre Boycott on behalf of the Progressive Group.

The couple printed flyers in their kitchen that spread the word, which Ms Harvey posted from Dockyard to Somerset Bridge while five months pregnant.

The Progressive Group operated in secret, with its members only revealing their identities in 1999.

Their protest, which lasted several weeks, aimed to put an end to the theatres’ segregation policies. It became the catalyst for desegregating other establishments across the island.

Ms Harvey said her main driver for helping the Progressive Group was the hope of a better world for her children.

She explained: “We wanted to pass on something different.

“My party the other night was held at a hotel where Blacks couldn’t go before.”

Despite her groundbreaking contribution, Ms Harvey said she considered her biggest accomplishment to be raising her two daughters, Donna Harvey Maybury and Lisa Harvey Simmons.

She said: “Never once have those kids done something that made me want to crawl under my bed.

“My kids have been very decent. They have been great kids to me.”

Ms Harvey, from Sandys, was the youngest of eight children.

She said that all of her siblings died in their 60s and that, while she had not give it much thought, she had not anticipated living to the century mark.

She said the trick to a long life was happiness and surrounding yourself with “people who are going to uplift you”.

Ms Harvey explained that she kept in touch with younger friends in their 60s, and spent time with her late husband’s church’s community.

When talking about her marriage, Ms Harvey said: “I was very happy. I had a wonderful husband. He was great to our kids. I think that helped, to have someone treating you well.”

Ms Harvey further counted herself blessed to retain all her mental faculties.

She said that her husband suffered from dementia before he died just shy of his own 100th birthday on September 17, 2023.

She said their daughters had kept her “comfortable” in the years since.

“I think of him a lot, but I’m not stressed out because of the comfort they’ve provided.”

Ms Harvey added: “Sometimes I feel a wee bit sad because of the marriage I had, but then I snap out of it and say ‘look at what I have — two children who care for me’.

“I did get a little sad thinking about my husband [during her party], but I know he wouldn’t want me to be miserable — he’d want me to enjoy myself.”

Speaking at Ms Harvey’s party, Mr Burt said: “The change that has been achieved in and by the lifetime we recognise today is nothing short of remarkable.

“You were not a bystander. You were an integral part of a movement that changed Bermuda for ever.

“Today we celebrate not only the milestone of reaching 100 years but the substance and meaning of those years.

“On behalf of the Government, I say a happy 100th birthday to you today, Ms Harvey.

“I know that all Bermuda joins with me in saying not just happy birthday — but thank you.”