Centenarian still has lively spring in step

ONE of Port Elizabeth’s oldest residents, Dorothea “Dee” Halliday turned 100 years old this past Sunday and celebrated her special day by having lunch with close family and friends – and burning it up on the dance floor!

Elegantly dressed and wearing a pearl necklace and earrings, Halliday, who lives with her daughter Louise Halliday in Lorraine, marked the day with lunch at one of her favourite restaurants, the Coachman at Brookes on the Bay.

“I had a lovely Sunday afternoon with my children at the Coachman. We were about 25 people and there was lots of laughter and dancing. It was a lovely day spent with the people I love and I even got to dance a bit,” Halliday said.

Her nephew and son-in-law were among those who took her for a twirl on the impromptu dance floor at the restaurant.

Originally from Cape Town, she was born in 1915, delivered by a midwife at the family home.

The mother of two children, John, 74, and Louise, 70, she said she never had any ambitions other than raising her children, being a good wife to her now deceased husband Jack and keeping her house clean.

“Having a career in my day wasn’t a priority. Girls matriculated and got married, leaving their husbands to do all the work. In those years I was married, I never drove a car as my husband drove me wherever I needed to be,” Halliday said.

“I’d been married to my husband for 65 years before he passed away. We moved to Port Elizabeth in 1956 and I kept myself busy by cleaning house and walking to shops because we didn’t have taxis back then and that’s how I spent most of my days and how I remained fit because I walked everywhere.”

Although all seven of her brothers and sisters have passed on, she has made new friends along the way.

“My longest and oldest friend from my ‘tea-garden friends’ is 93 years old and she’s one of my oldest living friends. I’ve seen a lot of change around and I’ve welcomed it with open arms.”

-Nomazima Nkosi