A century of memories: 100 years young

Feature image: Angelico Jarvis Photography

Three centenarians. Three centuries of living: faith, land, love, war, dancing, and a passport well used.

Jean McBride is 102. She’s already made a joke at her son’s expense before the microphone is even clipped to her collar. “It’s the one that looks after me,” she says with a glint, “that’s going to be my favourite at the end of the day.”

She is one of five centenarians living at Ballycara, alongside Bianca Usarzewska, who turns 101 in June, and Enid McGregor, who turned 100 on Mother’s Day.

Their stories couldn’t be more different. Their wisdom, it turns out, isn’t far apart.

Jean has lived through the Great Depression, the Second World War, the death of her father at 48 with no will and six children left behind. What held it all together, she says, was faith. She never strayed far from the prayer life she loved.

"I loved my prayer life," she says. When asked about the defining moment of her faith journey, she doesn't reach for a miracle. She says:

"It's the kindness of the community where you live. Make sure that you don't hurt anybody, that you look after people and appreciate that."

Jean McBride

She married a man she didn't meet until after the war. He had served in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, came home very quiet, and never talked about it unless someone asked directly. "It was war," Jean says. What more is there to say.

They built a life. A tennis court in the backyard. Ballroom dancing. Two sons, a daughter, good friends. "It was a busy life," she says. "I loved it." She still does exercises before bed every night. "I do a lot for myself. I like to be busy."

"Just live a good life. Keep good company."

Enid McGregor isn't the type to make a fuss about turning 100. She spent most of her life on a large rural property in Ashford, in country New South Wales. There was always something to do. She still misses it.

"My family," she says, when asked what she's most grateful for. "I've had a very happy, happy family life. And the life I lived on the land. I really love that life. I miss that."

She doesn’t have to think twice about her favourite decade.. "The year I had my children. That was a happy, happy life."

What would she do all over again, in a heartbeat? "The children. Yes. Looking forward to my great grandchildren."

She turned 100 at a party at Ballycara, then made her way to her daughter's place at North Lakes. A hundred years of hard work, she says. "But a life very happy to have had."

Bianca Usarzewska came to Australia from Italy in 1998. She was 73 years old. She followed her daughter here and never went home.

Travel was never just something Bianca did. It was how she understood the world. "I did travel, when I could," she says. "I went to Brazil because I had family there. I went back to Italy many times. Holland, Britain, because my daughter was there. I enjoyed the going places."

What she found at Ballycara was another community to belong to. "Everybody's very nice. They look after each other. They become my friend from the beginning. They know me and they like me. I like them."

Her advice for anyone in their thirties? She said it twice, just in case: "I would travel."

Ballycara Communications Officer Tanissa Rowe has watched hundreds of residents move through this village across nearly eight years. She'll tell you age, for most of the people here, is simply a number.

Between Jean, Enid and Bianca, they've lived through wars, raised families, crossed oceans and kept the faith. Ask any of them the secret. They'll tell you it was never about the years.

It was always about the people.

Bianca Usarzewska, Enid McGregor and Jean McBride are residents of Ballycara Retirement Village, Scarborough

Part of our Older and Bolder Special Feature, celebrating life over 50 in Moreton Bay.