The beauty of bridge is it makes you think, according to a 100-year-old exponent.
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Edna Bramley attended her usual weekly session at Commercial Club Albury Bridge Club on Friday, five days after celebrating her century with 105 relatives and friends.
Born the sixth of nine children on March 31, 1919, Mrs Bramley grew up in Queensland and studied nursing before moving south to join her older sister Myra's family at Jingellic.
She met her future husband, Hector Vannet, known as Van, who was nearly a decade older than her, at a funeral and they married in 1948.
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They lived and farmed four decades at Walwa, raising daughters Elizabeth and Anna and son Roger.
During bushfires in 1952, Mrs Bramley stayed at the house with her baby son, holding him close to the ground so he could breathe better.
With Walwa then a busy little town, she settled into community life through tennis, mothers club, arts and crafts and particularly golf, being Walwa Golf Club champion for 10 years.
A good cook, Mrs Bramley would hear a car coming up the drive, mix scones and have them ready by the time the visitors arrived.
Mr and Mrs Bramley relocated to West Albury in 1990 and Mr Bramley died three years later.
His widow later moved into a unit at West Albury aged care facility Riverwood, but continued to enjoy her golf, bridge and gardening.
She played pennant golf in her late 80s and scored a hole in one aged 84, finally giving up the sport at 96.
In October 2017 she moved into the hostel at Riverwood - with now not needing to do cleaning, washing or dishes, she remarked to her family, "I could go on for a fair time at this rate".
The grandmother of eight and great-grandmother to four still likes her bridge, which helps to "keep a few marbles in your head".
Her son Roger said his mother came from a stoic generation that lived through the Depression and war.
"Just getting on with it without making a fuss," Mr Bramley noted.
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