MORNINGSIDE centenarian, Josephine Asher, celebrated her 102nd birthday at her home at Tafta’s Cambridge Gardens on 28 September. A special birthday cake, donated by Chateau Gateaux sweetened the festivities further.
Jo was featured in Berea Mail in 2016 on her 100th birthday and for her and her husband Peter’s 67th wedding anniversary, and she was excited to celebrate her 102nd birthday as well as their 69th anniversary, last week.
At the auspicious event, Jo spoke about her life and credited Peter for caring for her, saying it was this that had aided her longevity. She spoke about having lived through the second world war and became very emotional about the effects of the war. She expressed how happy she was to be living at Tafta, adding she had now been a resident at Cambridge Gardens for 18 years.
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Jo was born in the Lake District in the United Kingdom and is the eldest of three daughters. She was born in the middle of the Battle of the Somme in WWI. She lived on a farm and had a wonderful life. When she was 18, she went to London to learn nursing and nursed the troops during WWII. She met a South African officer who introduced her to Peter and a whirlwind romance followed which saw the couple marry less than three months later.
Jo moved to South Africa with Peter in 1949. The couple had two sons, Christopher, who died at the age of 45 and Anthony. Jo didn’t work after she was married but spent a lot of her time volunteering and was awarded a Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary for her 55 years of charity work.
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