Allity Lilydale aged care resident Trudy Jones has always loved travel, and is celebrating her 103rd birthday with plans for a new adventure – hot air ballooning.
Trudy grew up in the port of Liverpool in the United Kingdom and says one of her clearest memories is her fairytale introduction to husband David during World War II.
“My friend and I decided to go to a church fete, and it had been pouring down with rain so they had put boards down so you could walk,” she says.
“Naturally being 19 I had huge heels on, and my foot got stuck between the boards. Two airmen came to my aid and took my shoe out for me.
“One of those gentlemen ended up being my husband. After we met I didn’t see him for three months because he was travelling as an air gunner in the Royal Air Force.
“The letters he would send to me were so long because he was lefthanded and would only get a few lines on each page – when they arrived my mother would say a novel had been delivered.”
Trudy and David decided to marry just days after her 21st birthday, before she was conscripted to the Army where she worked as a shorthand typist for six years.
“I was conscripted because I had no children – I had only married in the July and was called up in the October.
“When we came out of the forces together, we went on a holiday but when returned, everywhere was bombed out.
“We decided to come out to Australia but of course it didn’t go down too well with the family. Eventually they got used to it.”
After making the big move, the couple started their new lives down under with a family and would eventually travel around the world together.
“We went twice around the world and our last year together was spent travelling.
“Paris was my favourite place to be, I had my 72nd birthday in Paris, it was so lovely.”
Trudy is continuing to tick things off her bucket list and is now planning to get on a hot air balloon later this year. As for her advice for more than 100 years of happiness?
“Get on with one another and don’t argue. I never argued with my husband even though we were different religions,” she said.