Mrs Joyce O’Driscoll Celebrates 100th Birthday
Congratulations to Resthaven Malvern resident, Mrs Joyce O’Driscoll, who celebrated her 100th birthday in December.
Joyce has enjoyed a culture rich life, travelling with her husband as her family grew, before settling down in Adelaide.
Born in Manchester, Joyce enjoyed school, with her favourite subject being English.
‘After school finished, I worked in the office of a co-op, doing administrative work. I stayed there awhile before getting another job at a big electrical firm, where I stayed until I was 19 or 20 years old.’
During the war, Joyce met her husband, Bernard, at a local dance which was held on Monday nights at the church.
‘He did a lot of chasing after me, and I told him to buzz off because I wasn’t interested in settling down!’
‘He was three years younger than me, I was 25 and he was 22. I said that I wasn’t getting married until the war was finished’.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Joyce and Bernard, ‘but we ended up having a very successful and happy marriage.’
Joyce’s days of travelling began when Bernard was offered a job with the Western Australian railways, including a house for the family to live in. They travelled to Australia by boat, which took them three months. With two small children in tow by this time, Joyce described the journey as a ‘nightmare’.
The family eventually arrived and moved into a big housing estate just outside of Perth, where they stayed for ‘a fair while’. Here, Joyce had her third child, before the family moved to Adelaide when Bernard was transferred.
Joyce stayed at home to look after the children, although she ‘never liked cooking. But I was an avid reader.’
In retirement, the couple enjoyed a lot of travelling, going ‘all over the place’.
‘I liked Western Australia, and Queensland was nice. We also travelled back to England several times, and Asia and Borneo’.
Regarding her milestone birthday, Joyce describes it as ‘a bit of a shock – it’s hard to believe!’
She doesn’t have any secret to her great longevity, other than ‘walking a lot in my younger years’. However, she does have words of wisdom for the younger generations, ‘behave yourselves!’.
Many happy returns, Joyce.
Celebrating 85 years in 2020, Resthaven Incorporated is a not for profit, South Australian aged care community service associated with the Uniting Church. Resthaven’s residential and in-home care and support options are offered throughout metropolitan Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills, Murraylands, Riverland, Barossa, Fleurieu Peninsula and the Limestone Coast.