Daufuskie Island’s oldest resident turned 98 on Sunday. He’s a part of the island’s history

Cleveland Bryan started his 98th birthday like any other day: listening to jazz music and cooking breakfast in his home full of history.

Of course, Sunday’s occasion involved more visitors and gifts than usual. As Daufuskie Island’s oldest resident, Bryan — known affectionately by neighbors as “Cleve” — has become a local legend.

The birthday wishes started Saturday morning, when a dozen students from the island’s elementary school surprised Cleve with a homemade 100-link paper chain, each piece adorned with handwritten messages like “98 is great” and “You are wise like an owl.” After singing “Happy Birthday,” the children draped the chain around his neck.

The rest of the island shared their own birthday wishes. Deborah Smith, a longtime friend of Bryan’s, organized a letter-writing campaign for the occasion, receiving over 50 cards as of Saturday evening.

Bryan was born in 1925 on Daufuskie’s Prospect Road, less than a mile from the property he calls home today. He says his childhood was spent hunting and fishing, two hobbies that became lifelong favorites. In his earliest memories, he recalls his great-grandmother Pender Hamilton, a former slave on St. Simmons Island, giving him cookies and walking him down Prospect Road.

Daufuskie is the centerpiece for generations of Bryan’s family history. Like him, his grandmother and mother were also born on the island. His childhood neighborhood is now recognized as the island’s Historic District.

After working as a crabber on Tybee Island for several years, Bryan moved to New York City in 1946. He found a job as a sheet metal worker for the New York Police Department, completing roofing projects and creating equipment for the nation’s largest police force. Metalwork became Bryan’s signature trade; today, a repurposed bus frame in his backyard acts as his workshop.

Bryan’s bodybuilding days began in New York as well, he said. He frequented training gyms and professional boxing matches, once paying $1 to see Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, warm up at Madison Square Garden.

But Bryan “never liked the city,” he said. He returned to Daufuskie in 1988, where he’s lived ever since. When asked what brought him back to his birthplace, he said he missed the island’s “peace and quiet.”

The 20th-century South wasn’t always kind to Cleve, however. He recalled a trip to Savannah in 1953, when he was turned away from the lunch counter at a Woolworth’s “five-and-dime” general store. Bryan retreated to an eatery inside a drugstore on Savannah’s east side, where he was given his food in a bag — he wasn’t allowed to eat inside.

But Cleve also remembers Savannah by childhood trips with his mother: his first time eating an ice cream cone, his fearful first ride on the trolley cars.

Today, Bryan’s home is a tribute to his loved ones. Family portraits line the walls, most encased in metal frames that Cleve made himself. Late relatives are remembered through small keepsakes, like a framed shopping list that belonged to his mother.

And in Cleve’s backyard is a self-made monument of the history he’s lived through — a small wooden shed he calls “the museum.” On exhibit are traces of his personal and familial histories: a vintage NYPD uniform, black-and-white photos of boxing matches, newspaper clippings of his family’s lineage.

At 98 years old, Bryan is continuing a tradition of longevity across his family tree. Among a number of other family members that lived to a “great age,” his great-grandmother and great aunt lived to be 108 and 109, respectively, according to the Southern Cross magazine of the Diocese of Savannah.

He may be closing in on a century, but Bryan says he doesn’t care much about making it to 100.

“It’s not worth it,” he joked, citing his decline in mobility over the years. “If it wasn’t for her,” he said, pointing to Smith, “I could never make it.”

Even at 98, Bryan is still able to live on his own — a testament to the power of community support on Daufuskie. Fellow islanders offer a steady stream of help: running errands, pitching in with household chores, even doing the dirty work of property maintenance. One neighbor who stopped by with an early gift Saturday morning recalled mowing Bryan’s lawn with a church group several years prior.

Bryan’s support is also organized through Senior Matters, a private company offering in-home care for seniors in the Hilton Head area. Founded as an alternative to senior living facilities, their services allow Bryan to stay on Daufuskie, where he feels most at home.

Still, Bryan maintains a high level of independence. He’s seen frequently driving himself across Daufuskie Island, by car and by golf cart. And neighbors say he’s still a terrific cook — just like his mother and grandmother.