AGE is just a number for Morningside’s Jo Asher, who celebrates her 100th birthday on Wednesday, 28 September.
The feisty centenarian joked that she may be 100 years old on paper, but age was all about how you felt, “and I still feel young!” she said.
“I’m full of aches and pains, but what doesn’t hurt, doesn’t work! You could have aches and pains at any age. I still feel young inside, I feel the same as I did as a young woman. My nurse and I laugh and giggle together like young girls!” she said.
Jo is celebrating her birthday with a party at TAFTA’s Robert Storm House surrounded by her friends and family.
“I had a wonderful party with cake and champagne, and Colin Penn entertained us,” she said. Colin Penn said he had made a deal with Jo when he performed at her 90th birthday, that if she made it to 100, he would perform at her birthday for free.
Adding to the excitement of her milestone event, Jo was also thrilled to receive a birthday card from HRM Queen Elizabeth II, and a second card from the monarch congratulating her and her husband, Peter on their 67th wedding anniversary which they celebrated last Saturday.
Jo was born in the Lake District in the United Kingdom and was the eldest of three daughters. She was born in the middle of the Battle of the Somme in WWI.
“Living on a farm, we had a wonderful easy life. When I was 18, I went to London to learn nursing,” she said.
She said she was a nursing sister and nursed the troops during WWII.
“I had been engaged and met a South African officer who introduced me to Peter. That was that! Everything else was dropped! We met and married in under three months,” she said.
Jo moved to South Africa with Peter in 1949. The couple had two sons, Christopher, who died at the age of 45, and Anthony, who now lives in Australia. She said she hadn’t worked in the 67 years she has been married, but that she worked hard as a mom and wife.
Jo did, however, spend a lot of her time volunteering, and was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary for her 55 years of charity work.
She said the majority of her 100 years had been spent with Peter, and were her happiest times. She was lucky to be able to celebrate her anniversary and her birthday within days of each other, and said in a marriage it was important to have good faith and a sense of humour. “You have to see the funny side of things in life. I have also been blessed to have such a wonderful husband!” she said.
Responding to a question on what she feels has been the reason for her longevity, she said her father had lived to 101 years of age.
“My father was never sick, only before he died. I have had everything under the sun, but I’m still here! Old age must run in the genes!” she laughed.
