When Edith McDonald was born in Maitland in 1907 the average life expectancy was 47 years, only 14 per cent of homes had a bath tub and the average Aussie wage was two pounds and two shillings a week.
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Mrs McDonald, one of Maitland’s pioneers, passed away on Monday at an amazing 109 years of age. She was Australia’s seventh oldest woman.
The mother of three, grandmother of 14 and great grandmother of countless others, had been well until a few weeks ago and died suddenly in Moree, her home since 1947.
Son Walter said the family moved from their King Street Lorn home to Moree after father Fred was offered a job in the far north NSW country town.
“Dad worked at George Galtons,” he said. “I was about 10 at the time and at Bolwarra Public School and thought it was a bit of an adventure to move to another town,” he said.
Mr McDonald said his mother had a good life, was rarely ill and was a hard worker. She was also one of the first female motor bike riders in Maitland.
“She often said the secret to her longevity was no drinking, smoking or getting involved with bad men,” he said. In fact Mrs McDonald was asked to participate in a study carried out by Boston University which looked at women who lived past 105,” Mr McDonald said. “Mum happily participated and her progress was monitored for quite sometime.”
He said researchers told him the world-wide study revealed a similarity between some of the women who had babies later in life and longevity.
“Mum had my sister Jennifer (Kempe) when she was 40. The researchers said they were not ready to document this finding yet but said it was a common thread linking many of the women taking part.”
Mrs McDonald moved into a retirement village about six years ago.
She went for her driver’s licence when her husband died in 1976 and drove until she was 98.
“She worked as a clerk, ran a small food store, managed a shoe shop and had a stint working at Coles,” Mr McDonald said. “Mum loved tennis, bowls, bingo and an occasional game of cards.
“She was a wonderful mother and was getting close to being Australia’s oldest woman. She was on little medication and we actually thought she would see out her 110th birthday in March,” he said. “She was a very industrious woman who had a wonderfully fulfilling life with little illness.”
Mrs McDonald still has family in Maitland including her sister Peg Allen who is 94. Family and friends farwelled Mrs McDonald in Moree on Thursday.