All notifications Off, but calendar alerts won't stop?

Question

I've loaned my old iPhone (3G running iOS 4.2.1 with no SIM card) to an elderly relative, just as an "iPod Touch" for ONE purpose only: to run a 24/7 web app I made that shows the time and date in super large yellow print. (It also shows the time of day in natural English, like "late morning," because AM vs. PM confuses her.) She loves it and relies on it! It solves a daily problem in her life that no clock has been able to solve. She is no longer embarassed not to know what time of day it is when people call/visit. She can now be self-reliant in a small but important way.
But it's having a problem.
She is not tech-savvy and has memory problems, so I need to keep the experience as simple as any wall clock--nothing interactive. I have turned on EVERY parental restrictriction (apps are all hidden) and moved all the Apple apps and Settings to page 2. (If she hits the Home button by accident, page 1 only has one icon--my clock. Even the Dock is empty.) I turned off locking, sleeping, and vibrating. I set the volume to zero and set ALL Notifications completely Off.
And yet... my old scheduled calendar reminders (monthly bills, rent, taxes, etc.) keep popping up! You can imagine how bad that is to someone in a (sometimes) confused state. Her clock is telling her she has to pay some bill or do something urgent! A caregiver who visits every other day dismisses the alerts (about 1 per week) but it's still a problem. Sometimes her vision is good enough to actually read the alerts if she gets close, and regardless, the alerts block the clock display.
Even worse, if she ever accidentally touches the screen, the alert might send her into the calendar app which would be utterly confusing. If that happens even once, she will be sure she has broken it. She'll blame herself, and this clock that is such a relief and comfort to her will become a source of fear and stress, just like her microwave and her cordless phone. Technology terrifies her, and even other wall clocks have been a problem. (She always thinks electrical devicses are interfering with each other--like thinking that she has lost some of her TV channels because she hit the wrong button on her phone, or thinking her fridge is ruining the food because the microwave clock started blinking.)
Any thoughts? Why would it still be showing calendar alerts?
I live in another state entirely, so I'm hoping this is something simple that I can talk the caregiver though on the phone. (Deleting calendar events manually, say, or wiping and reinstalling the phone, would be last resorts--those would have to wait until I next visit in person.)
TIA!

Answer 1

I have just tested this on my own device and discovered that even with notifications in the Notifications Centre turned off, if you have alerts set in the calendar entry they will still display and bleep on the screen.  You may need to go into the entries that are appearing on her device and remove the alert.