Albury's Veronica (Von) Croft turns 100

Notching up many years is one thing, but Albury’s Veronica (Von) Croft also knows the knack of a life well lived.

Mrs Croft celebrates her 100^th birthday on Saturday with close friends and a family that includes three children, seven grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Born November 19, 1916, Mrs Croft (nee Butler) grew up on a farm near Lockhart, one of eight children in a family where boys and girls had their set jobs.

“I was terrified of cows and horses because the girls weren’t allowed to go outside,” she said.

She remembered the big dam in front of their house and driving a horse and sulky into town for school.

Her future husband Alf also came from Lockhart and the pair married in 1940.

The couple had three children, Colleen (Howard), John and Paula (McEachern), all now of Albury.

Shock and sadness came when Mr Croft, eight years older than his wife, died suddenly at 52.

“I used to lie in bed in the morning and think I can’t get up, I can’t carry on,” Mrs Croft said of her grief then.

“I just made myself get up and I thought I’ve just got to do it ... and you do.”

Her son John paid tribute to his mother’s efforts at this time and always, calling her “the best mum in the world”.

Mrs Croft did some dress making and a job in a solicitor’s office after her husband’s death, then in 1970 she moved to Wagga.

Always interested in fashion, she worked in a dress shop for 30 years.

“There was a fortune in clothes then,” she said.

“People would come in and they’d buy the whole outfit for the cup and they all spent a lot of money.”

A tennis player in her younger days, Mrs Croft enjoyed golf into her 80s, still walking the course.

Her family persuaded her to join them in Albury about eight years ago and she is now a resident at Borella House.

Colouring books have become a recent hobby.

“I could sit for hours, I love it,” she said, adding with a smile, “I pick out the easy ones first.”