One hundred and twelve-year-old Edwin Wickramarachchi, who had been recognised as Sri Lanka’s oldest man, would be felicitated on the International Day of Older Persons which falls on October 1.
He would receive an award from Speaker Karu Jayasuriya and Social Welfare and Primary Industries Minister Daya Gamage, at the event.
The Daily News recently met Wickramarachchi who was born on April 24, 1906, at his residence in Ambawatta, Udawelivitiya. He said that he had cultivated rice in paddy fields, and that it was one of the secrets to his long life.
He is the eighth and only living member of a family of 11. His wife L.C. Govipalagoda had passed away several years ago. They had 10 children and of them, eight are still alive. Kusumnee Wickramarachchi, one of his daughters, looks after her him.