Bright as a button
by KinCare — 4 March 2021
Our Customer Joyce recently celebrated her 101st birthday with some quiet festivities. Described by her daughter Zoane as “bright as a button”, Joyce still lives in her family home on the NSW Central Coast and is certainly an inspiration to us all. Zoane recently shared some fond stories of her mother’s life – with Joyce chiming in from the background.
“Mum was born in Canowindra in NSW in 1919. They lived on a farm and while her eldest sister worked in the kitchen, mum spent most of her time outdoors working with the animals – milking cows and raising lambs,” Zoane says.
As a young child, Joyce would travel four miles by horse and sulky to attend school with just 30 other students. “Even now she remembers the horse’s name,” Zoane laughs, with Joyce shouting from the background, “It was Snip!”
Joyce met her husband Reg in Canowindra and the happy pair raised their four children there for many years.
“We all grew up Canowindra, but it’s a bit a farming town with not a lot of other work opportunities. In 1964, mum and dad moved to Umina Beach on the Central Coast to help give my brothers, Don, a plumber and Colin, a carpenter, a better chance of finding work.”
They bought one of the first houses on the street, which is now built out.
Zoane says a big part of her mum’s life has always been the church.
“Until COVID hit, she was very involved. She would cook for the fetes, and organised the fashion parades until she was 90. Even now they call her to check things – which is good, as she likes to be in charge!”
When Joyce turned 100 years old, her family didn’t let her organise her own party, which Zoane says was quite hard for Joyce. “She knew it was happening but we didn’t tell her what was happening – she drove us all mad checking who we’d invited and what was going on.”
Both Joyce and Zoane remember what a fantastic day of celebrations it was.
“We had lunch with the family and then people came afterwards for afternoon tea,” explains Zoane.
“Joyce has a big family with six grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren – plus a few extra people that call her Grandma. There were over 100 people throughout the day,”
When asked about what Joyce’s secret to long life is, Zoane says: “We’re definitely lucky to have had mum as long as we have; she’s never drank, never smoked, she grew up without processed food and even now she doesn’t eat sugar! She’s also still as bright as a button; just a bit hard of hearing on the phone!”
Happy Birthday Joyce!