100th birthday celebrations turn into 101st for Jean

When the family of Resthaven Port Elliot resident Mrs Jean Foubister began making arrangements to celebrate her 100th birthday in April this year, they were surprised to learn she had actually already reached a century!

‘I was born in Murrayville, just on the Victorian side of the border near Pinaroo,’ Jean says.

‘When I was born, the nurse put on my papers 1/4/24 – but in actual fact, it should have been 1/4/23. The official record that went to the government was correctly noted, but this whole time I’ve been thinking I’m a year younger than I actually am!’

One of six children, Jean’s was a close family. Her father was a ‘Barwell Boy’, one of the British teenagers who came to South Australia in the 1920s to be apprenticed on farms throughout the state. Almost 1500 boys, most in their mid to late teens, migrated to South Australia under the scheme instigated by the Liberal Premier Sir Henry Barwell as a means to gain young men for agricultural and pastoral work.

Jean’s father was posted to Pinaroo, where he worked his way into a position at the Pinaroo General Store. He was employed there for many years.

Jean and her siblings attended Pinaroo school until Grade 7.

‘My teacher was called Miss Ryan, and she was the daughter of the family who ran the local hotel,’ Jean says.

Jean was inspired by Miss Ryan, and down the track she enrolled in further education to enable her to become, first, a kindergarten teacher and then later a relief teacher. Teaching students across Grades 1-5, Jean worked at Pinaroo, Lameroo, Tailem Bend and Murray Bridge schools.

In 1943, Jean married local boy Lindsay Simpson, and their son Ron was born in 1945. Sadly, the marriage did not last, but Jean married her second husband Gordon Foubister in 1992. Gordon was a widower, and the pair, who met at bowls, found they had much to talk about.

Not one to big-note herself, Jean says she’s never been one to ‘put on a show about anything’.

‘I’ve certainly been busy though,’ Jean says. ‘I think I’ve worn my arms out from all the work I’ve done over the years!’

Happy belated 100th birthday Jean!