Colin and Neta Murray are not ones to sit around and they say this is the secret to a long and happy life. Their secret must work because Colin recently celebrated his 100th birthday on December 26, 2022.
Colin celebrated this impressive milestone with a party in mid-December at Bartonvale Gardens Retirement Village where he lives with his wife Neta. Then again with family on his Boxing Day birthday.
The secret to life at 100
Colin says he’s been active his whole life and unlike other people, he’s never been one to think that it’s time to take it easy.
“You’ve just got to keep going,” says Colin. “Be physically active all your life. That builds your body up. There are a lot of people who get to 60 and they’ll sit down and think they’re old. They’re not old! If you keep physically active that really helps a lot. I had a pretty busy life.”
As a young married couple Colin and Neta moved to property in Penong in outback South Australia. They moved there to farm wheat and sheep and build a life for themselves, but it took a lot of hard work.
“Farming was heavy work. It was nothing to go out into the scrub and cut a couple hundred posts with an axe. There were no chainsaws,” says Colin.
“We started off on a block of land with hardly anything and we ended up with all that we needed,” says Neta.
As a veteran of World War 2, Colin was used to adversity and lived by his motto of “keeping going”.
Life in the city and retirement
When it was time for their children to start high school, the whole family decided to move to Adelaide. Here Colin worked in a farm machinery business for a few years before eventually retiring.
The couple weren’t ready to slow down yet and spent 25 years caravanning across the country. The couple joined not one, but two caravan clubs so they could keep out on the road.
“We lived a lovely life in the caravan,” says Neta. “We had a jolly good time.”
In their travels they went to Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia, along with many local trips around South Australia.
Life at Bartonvale Gardens
Colin and Neta moved to Bartonvale Gardens around two years ago and currently live in an independent living unit. They love getting involved with the activities in the village, Neta joins in the knitting and chat group, while Colin plays billiards.
They enjoy having a smaller home that is much easier to take care of, and they’re also now getting support through the RetireAustralia Home Care team.
“I’m pleased now I only have a little place to clean and keep tidy,” says Neta. “I’ve had to give in to a cleaning lady and now I have someone to wash the windows.”
Their son Garry lives nearby and is pleased his parents are living in the village, although he said it took a little convincing and he wishes they had decided to move while they were in their eighties.
“I was very pleased once they made the decision to come here. I just feel more confident that they have they security that they need. They’re fiercely independent and took time to get them here,” says Garry.
“To be quite honest, they were 10 years too late getting here, but they were very reluctant to shift. Once they got here they were OK, but I think they could have had a better time if they’d got here earlier,” Garry explains. “But that’s the way it is.”
Home Care
Living independently in their nineties (and now at 100) is made easier with the support of the Home Care team. As well as getting some assistance with cleaning, Neta is looking forward to having someone who can drive her to do some shopping when needed as Colin only recently gave up driving.
Their son Garry says it’s also important to start the Home Care process sooner rather than later.
“The earlier you can get started with Home Care the better, again I think my parents left it too long and it does take time,” he explains.
Another milestone
Now that Colin has celebrated his birthday, the milestone celebrations won’t stop there. Colin and Neta are looking forward to celebrating their diamond wedding anniversary in June. Being married 75 years hasn’t dampened their humour and the couple often makes jokes to each other.
“Being married 75 years you sometimes start to annoy each other,” Neta and Colin say laughing.
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