AN Albury great grandmother, who died after contracting COVID at the age of 101, has been remembered as a "kind and sweet lady" who had a "big heart".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Doreen Hornery died at Mercy Place on Friday afternoon, with another COVID-infected resident of the Albury aged care centre, a man in his 70s, dying on Saturday.
The deaths were announced on Monday by NSW Health, with five Mercy Place residents having now died from the October outbreak.
Mrs Hornery's son Richard said his mother had tested positive after being advised to have a COVID test on October 20.
His final chat with her was on Tuesday last week.
"She said she felt fine and didn't believe she had it and obviously she did have it," Mr Hornery said.
Mrs Hornery was fully vaccinated in May and had lived at Mercy Place since 2019.
He praised his mother's resilience.
"She was a very tough woman, she had four children and I'm the only one surviving," Mr Hornery said.
"My oldest sister died of cancer in 2007, she was 65 roughly when she died.
"I had a young sister pass away when I was very little and when we were living in Sydney I had a young brother and he had an accident and died.
"Mum in her own family was one of 11 children and she outlasted the lot of them."
Mrs Hornery lost her husband Richard in 2011 after 70 years of marriage.
Granddaughter Jo Harris said her nanna was a "beautiful, funny old lady" who loved her family.
"She was really kind and sweet, she was an amazing lady and she had a big heart." Mrs Harris said.
Sadly, COVID meant Mrs Harris had not seen Mrs Hornery since March 2020 but before then they had lunch each Monday at the Commercial Club, where her nanna liked playing the pokies.
Mr Hornery said his mother enjoyed reading, magazine puzzles and watching tennis and cricket on television.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Born at Kempsey on the NSW North Coast, Mrs Hornery married amid World War II, with her husband serving in the army in Darwin while it was being bombed.
They later moved to Killara where they lived on a farm before retiring to a new home built in Hartley Street, Lavington, circa early 1970s.
After a fall, Mrs Hornery moved into Mercy Place in 2019.
She turned 100 on July 16 last year but COVID rules precluded a large celebration.
Her life was bookended by pandemics, the Spanish flu and the coronavirus.
