By PEACE IJIYERA
AT around 2.30pm on May 21, 1926, Dorothy Castell was born.
Last month, she celebrated her 100th birthday with her resident friends at Yallambee Traralgon.
Before the celebrations started, she took a trip down memory lane and reflected on her life.
“I grew up in Yallourn,” she said, her son adding it was the “best little town in the world.” She attended Yallourn Primary School and sang in the church choir. An only child, she enjoyed spending time with her cousins who lived close by.
“Growing up in Yallourn was good. It was a town built on the SEC (State Electricity Commission). They made houses, but we couldn’t buy them because they knew eventually they’d be going. And when they did, we built a house in Newborough.”
Her father worked for the SEC. Ms Castell also worked there on “computers, ledger machines, making up men’s pays and sorting them out.”
When she got married on September 9, 1950, she had to leave her job.
“Once I got married I had to leave, because Yallourn was full of single girls and whatnot who needed jobs. We had husbands to look after us, they wouldn’t employ us once we got married. I stayed home and I was quite happy doing that.”
Ms Castell had four children, sadly two of them have passed.
When Ms Castell’s husband retired from his career in mechanical engineering, the couple moved to Werribee. Ms Castell moved back to the Valley when her husband passed in 2007. She says she misses him “so much.”
“He was good. He worked with his hands and did the gardening and grew all the vegetables, all sorts. So we never went without really.”
“I don’t know what we didn’t have there. He was the outside man, I did the inside … cleaning, cooking and washing and ironing.”
Ms Castell spoke fondly about the dances the young ones attended on a Friday night.
“That’s where I met my husband. A lot of the girls met their husbands at the Friday night dances.” It might be time to bring those back.
In her spare time, Ms Castell enjoys knitting and has been looping yarn around knitting needles since she was seven. In fact, the grey cardigan and orange socks she wore on the day of her birthday celebration was knitted by her.
At the moment, she finds great joy in making scarves for her grandchildren and their partners. She also enjoys reading on her Kindle and keeping up with her eight grandchildren and seven greatgrand children on Facebook.
Her kids, Ann Smith and Ian Castell, say it’s special to see their mum reach this milestone.
Ms Smith spoke about how “blessed” she feels to be able to hear her mum tell historical stories of what life in Yallourn was like during the wars.
Ms Castell and her resident friends enjoyed the live entertainment performed by local singer Glen Lever. He sang all the classics and gave the birthday girl a light up tambourine.
A St Kilda fan, Ms Castell specially requested When the Saints Go Marching In.
Member for Morwell, Martin Cameron and some Stockdale Road Primary School students came in to wish Ms Castell a happy birthday.
When asked what advice she would give to people, Ms Castell simply said, “just live your life.”
