Ron Smith Care Centre resident Ms Kitty Venn, aged 99, is still enjoying life to the fullest.
Kitty was born Ms Doreen Ruby Mole on April 5, 1917, in Swakopmund, South West Africa.
The fourth of 12 children born to Ms Alice and Mr Alfred Mole, her father was a magistrate and the family eventually grew up in Hamilton Street, Pretoria. As there was a tennis court at their home, she was a good tennis player who only gave up playing tennis just before she turned 80.
After completing her schooling at Pretoria Girls High, Ms Venn worked for Barclays Bank as a secretary. After the war, she married Mr Oliver Claude Venn, a quantity surveyor who was a pilot during the war. The couple moved to Sandringham, which was a suburb developed for ex-servicemen. Ms Venn moved into Elphin Lodge in 2000 after her husband died.
In 2016, after a fall and hip replacement, she gave up her cottage and now lives in the Lakeside section of Elphin Lodge’s care centre. Furnished with her own furniture, Ms Venn’s room opens onto the garden and she is a happy resident who still attends ‘gym’ at the hall on Mondays.
“Everyone is most helpful, caring and friendly, and my mother has made new friends. She still has her old friends (including the Bridge girls) from the Elphin Lodge cottages. She is fortunate to have a sister, Ms Merle Price, and a sister-in-law, Ms Benita Mole, living at Elphin Lodge as well. Many thanks to everyone and all the staff at the Elphin Lodge Complex,” said her daughter, Ms Carol Cunningham.
Ms Venn has four children, 17 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren scattered across South Africa and around the world, with whom she is in frequent contact.
“Named Kitty for her beautiful, long, straight black hair, my mother is a generous, kind, loving and amazing lady with a heart of gold,” said Ms Cunningham.
