Australia's oldest woman celebrates her 110th birthday
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Lorna Henstridge has advice for people who want to age well.
“Keep interested in what you’re doing, be active, and keep doing something new all the time for both you and other people,” she said.
“I have always liked people, like mixing with people, in saying that not all people like to be approached and bothered by others, but that’s what life is about, putting up with people."
The great-grandmother of eight, who lived independently up until the age of 105 and drove a car until she was 98, marked her 110th birthday on 6 June in the aged care facility at SA Health's Bordertown Memorial Hospital in Bordertown, 250km east of Adelaide's CBD.
“We had to walk more back in the day. When we were little, we didn’t have cars,” she said.
“I’m always happy to help people who need help but hope I’m not overstepping.
“Things have changed for the young … they’re not as restricted anymore.
“Try and be yourself, be natural and be friendly with other people, make them feel at home.
“Always do what you can to help others.”
A life well-lived
Born in Adelaide in 1914, Lorna was raised on a farm near Bute on the Yorke Peninsula alongside her two siblings before moving to Adelaide to live with her grandmother.
“When I was five and we lived part way between Kadina and Bute, my father used to take me on horseback to a railway crossing and I’d get on the train and go to school and back,” she recalled.
Her family joined her in Adelaide five years later when she was around 10 years. She attended a public school in Unley, spent four years at St Peters and later went to business college where she did a short course in bookkeeping.
She met her husband in Keith and after they married, the family, which soon consisted of the couple and their three children, spent 10 years living in Victor Harbor before returning to Keith where Lorna was an active member of the community for more than 60 years.
“I miss Keith a lot, I was very involved with the people there,” she said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMcTPWcyCAQ