Amazing Great Grandmother To Celebrate Her 105Th Birthday After Recovering From Covid-19
For those sceptics who insist on a link, the full story can be found on the Portsmouth News website at
www.portsmouth.co.uk
But here below is my abridged version. It makes a change to have a “Good News” story from the Cursed Covid Crisis, and other bits of the story also make interesting reading. Altogether very heart-warming (especially the sherry !).
Stay safe everybody.
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Born Doris Emily Smith on June 11, 1915, the resilient great-grandmother lived through two world wars, the era pre-antibiotics, and the Spanish Flu pandemic before recovering from pneumonia and mild Covid-19 after testing positive in April.
Doris – known as Dolly – is due to celebrate her 105th birthday on Thursday in [redacted] care home, near Petersfield, which she moved into in January - but independent Doris was digging in her garden until just a few years ago.
Granddaughter Kate Parker, from Petersfield, said: ‘She’s very chatty and very resilient, she is a very positive and happy person. She’s just amazing, a real family person.’
Dolly was one of 10 children born to Lily and Hector Smith in Barford, Warwickshire, and grew up on her family’s farm, with happy memories of fresh food and riding pigs around the orchard. She looked after her five brothers and four sisters, sadly losing one sister Peggy to tuberculosis.
Peggy’s twin Betty recently celebrated her 100th birthday and still lives independently in Leamington Spa. Betty had a visit from the BBC and local emergency services who sent her birthday well wishes at a distance.
Dolly married Edward ‘Ted’ Lymn during World War Two in 1941 after meeting at work.
Ted was a Dunkirk veteran from the Royal Warwickshire regiment, who swam out to catch the last boat back after he had been presumed a casualty while sleeping on the beach.
Dolly supported war efforts and made carburetors for the Lancaster Bombers alongside her sisters in Warwickshire. She would think nothing of riding many miles in the blackouts to dance the Charleston.
The secret to her longevity, Dolly states, is good food, a slice of cake and the occasional sherry. She is very much looking forward to celebrating her 105th birthday on Thursday at a distance with her local family.
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