When Canberra grandmother Rosalie Fewster was born on December 16, 1915, World War I was into its second year, Charlie Chaplin had recently released his film The Tramp and Albert Einstein had just published his theory of general relativity.
On Thursday, Mrs Fewster celebrates her 106th birthday, surely one of the oldest, if not the oldest resident of Canberra.
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"Oh, it's great," she said, of reaching the milestone.
A resident of the Jindalee Aged Care in Narrabundah for the last decade, Mrs Fewster's birthday was celebrated with her family and friends on Wednesday as part of Christmas lunch festivities.
"This is the first time I've come across someone reaching 106 and I've been in aged care for 20 years," Jindalee's lifestyle coordinator Richard Cummins said.
Born in Murwillumbah in northern NSW, the daughter of dairy farmers, Mrs Fewster showed an independent spirit early on. She went to work in solicitors' offices in Murwillumbah and Sydney and lived in London for a year before she married her husband Eric, who was in the Navy, when she was 39. They had two sons, Alan and Robert, and now have two grand-daughters.
She and her family have lived in Canberra since 1965, settling in Hughes.
"It's not too big and close to Sydney," she said, of the national capital.
A big reader and fan of crosswords, lover of classical music and former keen golfer at the Canberra Royal, Mrs Fewster reckons the secret to her very long life is "probably a gin every night".
"But don't put that in," she said, with a laugh, giving me a little kick under the table. Still feisty at 106.
Megan Doherty
I like telling local stories with integrity. My greatest hope is that someone will read my story and turn to someone in a cafe or in the next cubicle or across the breakfast table and say, "Did you hear about this?" Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
I like telling local stories with integrity. My greatest hope is that someone will read my story and turn to someone in a cafe or in the next cubicle or across the breakfast table and say, "Did you hear about this?" Email: megan.doherty@canberratimes.com.au
