Theatre and drama education stalwart Lois Angus wasn't keen for a song and dance on her birthday.
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The Bendigo resident turned 90 on May 25 and celebrated with an afternoon tea among friends at her aged care home.
She will celebrate further next weekend when family and friends host a celebration.
Among flowers, gifts and calls from her family, Ms Angus insisted she was staying 88.
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"It was non stop. They kept going 'one more sleep mum, one more sleep' and I said 'Enough. No more. I don't want to turn 90, I'm going to be 88 tomorrow'.
"But I've had lovely flowers and greetings, they're putting on a beautiful putting on a weekend in June with family and friends.
"(The aged care home) has such sweet kind, loving ladies. I've only been here a year and I've never come across such kindness as I have from these ladies, the carers and the nurses here."
Ms Angus was born in Rochester where her father was a business man and mother was a piano teacher. She went to school there until she was sent to boarding school.
She would later turn to teaching in Bendigo and go on to become an effective and popular drama teacher.
"I was a big fish in a little pond in Rochester. My father was this and he was that. He was a businessman and was on every committee that town ever had," Ms Angus said.
"I came from a business family and was convinced I was adopted because I was the only one without a business brain.
"In fact, I went to teaching because I thought I was so stupid that only the little ones would know I'm clever. Little did I know that you put the best teachers in the preps and grade six."
Ms Angus' daughter Fiona, who lives in America, said her mother two brothers and a sister along with three chlidren - Fiona, Mark and Anthony.
Ms Angus also has seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
"Her two brothers and father started the Parsons Drapery, which is still standing today," Fiona said.
"She still loves the theatre, reads fervently, loves a good movie or TV show and beats everyone at scrabble."
Ms Angus' teaching career also took her to Coloardo and Texas for a time before returning to Bendigo.
"That was good, and I joined a theatre company over there," she said.
"When I came back here in 1972, the theatre company was called the operatic society. They only did sort of operas and they didn't do plays or anything like that. So I joined a group called the Wise Players and did a couple of productions for them.
"I don't know how many productions I have done in Bendigo - probably about 60 or 70 over the 40 years I was here."
Maree Kennedy, a friend of Ms Angus said, the now 90-year-old continues to be a thoughtful and creative inspiration and mentor to people involved in theatre.
"She has always pushed the boundaries and created professional standard community theatre that is thoughtfully created and masterfully executed," Ms Kennedy said.
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"Lois has an instinct that knows how to draw out laughter or tears from both cast and audience and has always been a leader in bringing new plays to Bendigo and bringing old plays back to life.
"She has been a game changer in theatre in Bendigo and I know she desperately wants Bendigo to keep striving to produce edgy and innovative theatre. It can be scary to do but always worth it."
In 1993, Ms Angus joined the teaching staff at the then newly-formed Girton Grammar when principal Clayton Jones gave her a job teaching drama.
"My last 10 years of teaching was at Girton Grammar, which was the icing on the cake," Ms Angus said. "They were very, very good to me.
"I went to Clayton Jones - I had retired from teaching, I was then 60 - and I said 'did you want to drama teacher?' He said 'yes, can you do that?' I went 'yes'. He said 'all right, you're hired'. That was it.
Ms Angus then spent the next eight years teaching drama to all students from prep to year 12.
"I had some successes I think. We did some great productions," she said. "Romeo and Juliet, that was my favorite. I just loved what they did. We did it on no budget.
"We had no money. Clayton Jones hired two scaffolds and I had a scaffold each end of the room - that's all I wanted.
"We wrapped one in red crepe paper and one in pink. Pink was Juliet's and red this Romeo's and they climbed all over the scaffolding. The action was there or was in the middle on the raised dais. That's all there was."
"It's become much more professional now. And I was never a professional."
Despite her modesty about her dramatic knowledge, Ms Angus remains resolute about the importance of drama in a student's education.
"My theory is if you get a child in prep and you tell them - and let them realise - that their body is fluid and it can be used, that it doesn't have to be hidden and that they can express their feelings - they're not ashamed about growing up," she said.
"They're not ashamed about saying things, making mistakes, creating.
"If they do that every year and you just expand them, by the time they get to year 11 and 12 they're not ashamed. And they're taught to respect each other.
"They're not going to let anybody put them down because they know who they are. They've had all those experiences.
"You put them in all different situations. If you make a mistake, who cares? Just have fun.I know it sounds airy fairy, but it works. It really works."
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