Birthday celebrations the order of the day at Rand Aid
“Mom is renowned for her love of baking and makes a delicious apple strudel.”
Celebrations were the order of the day when Elphin Lodge Retirement Village resident Irene Simon celebrated her 95th birthday.
The Rand Aid resident was appreciated by her family on May 14.
To mark this milestone, Irene’s children made a video for her using the VidHug app.
The video included birthday greetings from about 40 family members and friends in South Africa, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Ireland.
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“We also spent a few days together, with six of her great-grandchildren, at Champagne Castle Hotel in the Drakensberg, where our family used to spend many Christmas holidays,” said Irene’s daughter, Veronica.
Irene, who became a resident at Elphin Lodge in April 2018, was born in Berlin, Germany, and emigrated to South Africa with her sister when she was 12.
She was happily married to Ulli for 52 years and has three children, Veronica, who lives in Cape Town, Bernard, who lives in Toronto, and John, who lives in Sydney.
She has seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Two of her grandchildren and all but one of her great-grandchildren live in Johannesburg, with the other one living in Vancouver.
Ulli, a cabinet maker, was the founder and owner of S&S Woodware for many years.
“Mom is renowned for her love of baking and makes a delicious apple strudel,” said Bernard.
“She still makes delicious cakes, biscuits and snacks for all of her visitors,” added Veronica.
As Irene’s parents owned a driving school in Johannesburg, she became a driving instructor a few years after she left Parktown Girls’ High School.
Bernard said after her children were born, Irene became a homemaker but had many volunteer interests, such as working at the children’s hospital and the school tuck shop.
“The night our father died in 2000, she turned to me and said, ‘well, I suppose a new chapter of my life is starting’,” said Bernard.
“That is exactly what happened. She made many new friends and did all sorts of things she had never done before.”
At the age of 89, she visited a safari lodge in Kenya where one of her grandsons works.
Irene loves seeing her friends, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Pre-Covid-19, she was a big fan of the monthly men’s lunch at Elphin Lodge and Inyoni Creek.
As for her life philosophy, Bernard said one of Irene’s favourite expressions is “so long as everyone is happy”.
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