Gladys Middleton celebrated her 100th birthday last Wednesday.GLADYS Middleton celebrated her 100th birthday with residents, family and staff at the Hillview Bunyip Aged Care Hostel last week.
Her granddaughter Janette and her husband Allan, who are professional entertainers, provided the entertainment at the celebration held for Gladys in the Hill Centre.
Messages of congratulations were received from the Queen, the Governor General, the Premier and from local MP Ken Smith and other dignitaries for the milestone, which fell on Wednesday, 14 March.
Gladys was the youngest child in her family.
She had four sisters and three brothers and is now the sole survivor of her siblings.
She was born on 14 March 1907 in Pontifract Yorkshire, England.
Her weight at birth was 14 pounds.
Gladys’ father passed away suddenly in 1912 and in 1913 the family migrated to Australia on the ship The Port Lincoln.
Gladys remembers clearly when she started her prep schooling in Malvern, but did not like it very much so spent six months straight wagging.
The family lived around the Malvern area and as she grew older Gladys worked at housekeeping, child caring and as a shop assistant.
In later years while raising her family, she worked in waitressing and catering.
Gladys’ hobbies included sewing, knitting, crochet and craft.
She also loved dancing.
In 1930 she married Joseph Middleton at the Congregational Church, Malvern.
The couple was married for 42 years before Joseph died.
Gladys and Joseph had five children – three boys and two girls.
Her descendents include 21 grandchildren, 36 greatgrandchildren and 11 greatgreatgrandchildren.
Gladys loves life at Hillview.
She said she feels like a “queen bee” by being waited on, and, of course, there is no cooking or washing up.
Gladys also loves to participate in the varied activities at Hillview such as the outings every fortnight to ‘Bill’s movies’, carpet bowls and her favourite the Sunshine Club, where she enjoys the friendly atmosphere, the jokes, dancing and singalong.
When asked about the highlights in her life, Gladys immediately thinks her family, and especially watching the numbers increase from just Joe and herself to the huge clan it is today.
She has always loved animals and especially her dog Monty.
She still visits Monty, who is being looked after by relatives.
As the family expanded, the children went their own ways and Gladys enjoyed travelling to visit them.
She visited England to visit her youngest daughter, Pauline, who later moved to America, where Gladys also visited.
Once Gladys was on a ship when it caught fire and all the passengers were transferred into lifeboats.
Eventually they were picked up in the Malaka Straits and taken to safety.
Gladys still loves a joke, and at 100 years of age has a great sense of humour.
