TAMWORTH’S newest centenarian, Avie Egan, has credited her remarkable longevity to a healthy dose of good luck.
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The 100-year-old, who reached the magical milestone last Saturday, can offer no other explanation for her durability.
“I don’t know how, but I’ve just gone along,” she said.
“It’s your luck. You must put it down to luck. I don’t know of anything specifically that’s kept me going.”
Mrs Egan, of Oxley Vale, celebrated her birthday at the West Tamworth Sports and Bowling Club with 150 relatives and friends – some of whom she had not seen for decades.
It was a fitting setting for such an occasion considering a life-long love of bowls saw Mrs Egan continue playing well into her 90s before reluctantly giving the game away.
But while bowling is merely a spectator rather than participation sport for her now, incredibly Mrs Egan still holds a full driver’s licence – 86 years after first getting behind the wheel.
“I’ve been driving a motor car since I was 14,” she said. “We lived way out on a farm and you could do anything you liked with a motor car in those days.
“It’s very important really to have the car because if you want to do something, you can do it straightaway. I’ve got my licence for at least another 12 months.”
Born into a farming family in Temora in 1914, Mrs Egan proudly spent her entire working life on the land.
At the age of 32, in 1946, she married the late Jack Egan and together they raised three children – Ian, Graeme and Carol. She now has 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
In 1967, they moved from Stockinbingal in the state’s south to a farm at Somerton before settling in Tamworth about a decade later.
Mrs Egan was thrilled to receive a letter from Queen Elizabeth II last week congratulating her on the upcoming milestone.
“I thought that was very good,” she said.
“That was really important to me.”