Warwick local's 100th bash

Eloise Handley | 11th July 2009

flickr.com/nick farnhill

IMAGINE a time when two hands were your greatest tools - used to milk cows, harvest corn and to guide the horse pulling you safely in the sulky.

Many of today's youth wouldn't be able to cope in a world without modern technology but backtrack 100 years ago, this was the way of life for long-term Freestone resident Doris Irene Shelley, affectionately known as Rene.

Born in Warwick on July 10, 1909, Mrs Shelley celebrated her 100th birthday with a party at The Oaks yesterday.

“I don't know what all the fuss is about,” Mrs Shelly chuckled.

The Oaks throbbed with the sound of party laughter and song as Mrs Shelley's family and friends reminisced on a life which yesterday hit a standing ovation centenary.

The 150-strong crowd were only quelled when Ron Shelley, her eldest son, read a congratulatory letter from Her Majesty the Queen.

Mayor Ron Bellingham said, in a moving speech made to the congregation, Mrs Shelley had contributed greatly to the Warwick social fabric.

“I've had the pleasure of growing up with your family... you (Mrs Shelley) should be proud of your contribution to the community and of your family,” Cr Bellingham said.

Oaks nurse unit manager Claire Aspinall said Mrs Shelley “was a gentle, beautiful lady who keeps us in line like all good mothers do”.

The past 100 years undoubtedly saw a lot of changes, and Mrs Shelley has seen it all.

A 22-year-old Rene Tucker married Jim Shelley in 1931 and had three children. She is the eldest of 11 children, grandmother to 11 and great-grandmother to 30.

Mr Shelley said as well as her hands, her feet also got a good work out back in the day.

“As a child she walked to school 2.5 miles (four kilometres) each way and on Sundays would walk (almost five kilometres) each way to church and Sunday school,” Mr Shelley said.

“She played the organ at St Luke's Anglican Church at Freestone for nearly 86 years.”