Some people might consider turning 100 years old a big deal, but not Cavell Jones.
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“It’s nothing,” she said.
“They’re making a fuss. They only want an excuse for a party.”
It was 9am on Sunday, her birthday, and Mrs Jones was in fine form.
Ahead was a day full of visits from family and friends.
But it’s her party she’s most looking forward to, not only because about 100 loved ones are likely to attend, but because she will then receive a papal blessing.
Mrs Jones is a devout Catholic and credits her faith with her longevity.
“I’ve got a wonderful faith in God and it’s entirely his idea that I’m here – it’s not me,” she said.
Throughout the years she’s been many things to many people: wife to William Jones, mother to nine children, a grandmother and a great grandmother.
About a year ago she celebrated the birth of her first great, great grandchild.
“She’s 12 months old, just walking – she’s beautiful,” Mrs Jones said proudly.
Some people will know her for her cooking skills, having catered for central Victorian businesses.
Others will know her for talent for fundraising, which she still employs to assist Simpkin House in Bendigo.
“You’ve got to keep working, you don’t just sit about,” Mrs Jones said.
Her 100 years have been busy ones – sometimes tough, but she learned from an early age how to make do.
“I was a depression kid, then the war came,” Mrs Jones said.
“Four of my brothers went to the war.”
Her father was a sleeper cutter, who served as a guard at a prison.
“They were very hard times. We had droughts and bushfires and all the things that went with it,” Mrs Jones said.
“But I managed, I don’t know. I did homeschooling with the kids for five to six years.”
Though she was born and raised in Rushworth, she moved many times throughout her life, living in Melbourne and on farms.
Now she’s a resident of Victoria Heights Residential Care in Ironbark.
Her children said her character resembled that of her namesake, Edith Cavell, a British nurse during the First World War who was executed for helping hundreds of allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium.
History remembers Cavell as a heroic martyr, who once said, “I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”
Family of Mrs Jones said she was a champion of the disadvantaged and would always talk to anybody.
Birthday party organisers invited well-wishers to attend on September 24 and to indicate their interest by emailing julie@juliebrooksby.com