Cecil moves into residential aged care at 102 years young
The average age of admission to residential aged care was 83 years for men and 85 years for women in 2012-22, according to the Australian Government's Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
But Cecil Sempf has just moved into the Christian faith Not For Profit Carinity's Karinya Place in Laidley, a rural town in Queensland's Lockyer Valley, 84km west of Brisbane, at the ripe old age of 102.
He was born in nearby Marburg on 3 November 1921 and has spent most of his life in the area, leaving school at 14 to work on the family farm. A self-taught welder, he eventually started his own engineering business in Gatton, making farming equipment.
“I manufactured various types of machinery and equipment such as three-wheeled tractors, seeders and planters, among other things,” Cecil said.
Additionally, Cecil constructed two boats, measuring 7.6m and 12m in length, for use in floodwaters.
He married his wife Esme at St Augustine’s Church of England in Brisbane in 1949. The couple had two sons and he fondly remembers he and Esme touring Australia in a Holden vehicle, travelling up the centre of the continent and staying in motels throughout the country.
Cecil loves classic motor vehicles. He owned a 1964 Ford Fairlane before buying a Chevrolet, which was originally from California, a decade ago. Cecil displayed his vintage car at his first car rally at the age of 98.
Cecil is the second centenarian to move into a Carinity aged care residence this year, after 103-year-old Olive Crawford joined the Carinity Hilltop community in Brisbane.
Good on you, Cecil!
