To reach 90 years of age is a feat, to reach 100 is a dream for some but to reach 102 and still be going strong is quite extraordinary. Denise Alsion chatted with Muriel (surname withheld) about her long and incredible life from World War II to a retirement home in Goonellabah.

I was born in America on the 29th December 1919 in a little town called Quincy, Illinois. Something happened between Father and Mother. My mother was English and my father was American and they split up. My father went back to America and my mother went to England with me.

There was no money given out in those days to help anybody so my Mum had to go to work. She worked in a hospital as a seamstress making uniforms and hats for doctors and nurses. She repaired sheets and made pillowcases, things like that. She also had to live in the hospital grounds. I had a younger brother Robert and we were put in charge of our grandparents on our mother's side.

We were raised by our Grandparents and we only saw our mother once a fortnight when she was allowed a weekend at home. We never saw our father, ever again. We never even heard from him, not even a card, nothing! I was too young to know what happened but anyway, I had a very, very happy life living with my grandparents. Their names were Harriet and George.

When I was about 14 the laws changed at the hospital and Mother was allowed to live at home so she rented a flat and had my brother who was 12 and I live with her.

Mum still had to work so she put me in charge of the flat and in charge of my brother. I had to make sure he was dressed clean and proper for school. I had to get his breakfast and have his lunch ready. I loved my brother. He was no bother.

I was taught to do all the washing and the cleaning of the house and there was no electricity during those years. Everything was done on the hands and knees..scrub, scrub, polish, polish. We cooked on the fire. We had a boiler to do the washing. It was so weird when electricity happened. We didn’t know what that was.

My entertainment was dancing. My mother let me go to a ballroom dancing school but I had to take Brother with me and so he learnt too. After years of working in the house, an Insurance man came to our door and saw what I was doing in our home so he offered for me to come and clean his house with payment. I worked for him and his wife for about 3 years. I would cycle to their house and back as it was quite a way and then come back to my chores at home.

When the fellow who taught me dancing found out I could dance, he would ask me to go to all the dances every Saturday which were held in different places. We somehow got together and got married. That was in 1938 and I was about 18. It was just before the second world war which was 1939 to 1945.

I was still living in England and my husband who was an Engineer had to go to war in the Middle East so I was on my own with one little one. His name was Norman. I was pregnant with my second child and was in the air-raid shelter in my backyard when the baby started coming during an attack. She was 6 weeks premature.

When the air raid stopped I was able to go into the house and one of the air raid wardens was keeping an eye on me. He took me inside and rode his bicycle down to get the midwife. She rode her bicycle back and she rubbed my baby in olive oil, wrapped her tight in a flannelette sheet and put her to my breast. She said, let her hear your heart. My baby lived and her name was Dorothy.

I was in a 2 story flat so the neighbours dragged a bed from upstairs to downstairs so I could sleep comfortably and safer from the bombings. My house, in the end, got damaged from a bomb dropping at the end of my street. It blew the roof off and all the windows were blown in. The enemy was after the steelworks and the shipyards but of course, they missed them and hit the houses.

My husband returned from war and had trouble with his lungs because he was out blowing up the mines in the minefields so the gas affected his lungs badly.

I had 2 more children after the war, John and Lesley. We moved from Tyneside down to South Wales and bought a house. My husband was a Contractor so his work took him from place to place so we had to sell the house and move again. We bought a 22-foot long caravan and we were all in the caravan. It had 3 different compartments-a bedroom for the children, the living room and the bed we slept in was hitched up to the wall and then let down at night. There was a toilet and wash basin and in the floor was a little bath.

We loved it and lived that way travelling around for a few years. The last place we were in was called Fritchley in Derbyshire. My husband was very sick and the doctor said, Why don’t you move to Australia to a dryer climate and of course we did. That was 1958.

When we arrived here we were placed in a camp in Matraville which was horrible. We were there for 6 months and we managed to buy a house in Botany. We stayed there for 5 years and decided to move to the Sutherland shire. I worked for Sutherland Council in the Library and I really enjoyed that.

Australia gave my husband another 10 years before he passed away. We were together for 32 years. Three of our children came with us but the eldest son joined the RAF in England so he stayed and he’s still there. My youngest son lives at Tregeagle and the other son lives near Liverpool in Sydney. Dorothy passed away 12 years ago.

I met someone else. His name was George and I remarried. During that time we lived in Gymea, until I was about 90. We were together for 38 years. George passed away 10 years ago from old age. He was 93.

I’ve no idea why I’m still going (laughs). We decided to go to a retirement home and that’s where George passed away. I thought my daughter’s gone, my husband’s gone so I’ll come up to Lismore and bother my youngest son Les. I stayed with him and his wife Cathy who is a lovely person for quite a while but I love to get out and about and there was no transport in Tregeagle. I said, let’s look at retirement homes. They took me around to the different ones in this area and I came back a couple of times to Chauvel Village. I love it here. I have my own unit and a lovely garden and I’ve been here in this unit for 8 years.

I’ve had no sicknesses. I don’t know what the flu is, I don’t know what a cold is and I don’t know what a headache is. I’ve never had a flu shot but I did have the Covid vaccinations. I don’t overeat and I just eat what I like. I don’t like steak, Yuk! I do like casserole meat though. I’ve never smoked and only had very little alcohol on special occasions.

In my younger days, I was a swimmer and a cyclist. I cycled until I was 50. I love dancing and I still do. I played golf and up until I was about 98 I played lawn bowls. I only stopped because I broke my wrist.

The only medication I take is for acid in the stomach. I go out on lots of bus trips now with Hart Buses. I go shopping once a week down in Lismore. I don’t like the Square because it’s too busy and there's no fresh air so I walk the CBD block where you can stop to talk to people whether you know them or not. It’s lovely.

All I can say is, I’ve had a very happy, healthy life, happy with both husbands, happy with my grandparents and my mother when she came home. I’m blessed to have 10 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and 8 great, great-grandchildren.

I had a party when I turned 100 at the Sports Club. My family came over from England. I didn’t get a letter from the Queen. I got a photo of her but it was about 10 years old. I got a letter from Scott Morrison and Kevin Hogan and one from the Governor-General. It was Hurley's letter with the photo of the Queen so it meant nothing to me (laughs).

A year ago I went for a full check-up and the Doctor told me I have a heartbeat of a 20-year-old.

I turn 102 on the 29th December.”