Centenary celebrations for Jane
Her birthday wish is to spend as much more time with family as possible.
LOVING life and enjoying a good joke is Jane Hubble’s secret to longevity.
The Moseley Park resident will celebrate her 100th birthday on Friday, 29 May. She was born in Worthing, Sussex in England on 29 May, 1915 and had two sisters. She was the eldest and is the only sibling still living.
Jane married Ronald Ernett Breward Hubble on 20 October, 1939. She had two sons, Ian and Trevor, and has six grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
When she was younger she did a lot of work for the St John’s Ambulance service in England before and after World War II. She said she also enjoyed a good game of tennis and swimming as she lived near the beach. Jane also loved to knit, and knitted all her grandchildren’s clothing through the years.
She moved to Gauteng in South Africa in 1954 when her husband Ronald got a job here. Their decision to move was also influenced by their eldest son’s ill health. He suffered a chest complaint due to the cold weather in England, and it was essential for the family to move to a warmer country.
Her fondest memory is her wedding day, but she also recalls the events after World War II. She remembered when the Germans bombed Coventry. Her family had to look for safety under a table shelter, and she described it like going into a cage. She recalled when her eldest son, who was just a baby, used to play hide and seek in that table shelter after the war was over.
Jane had seen many changes during her lifetime but still held on to her favourite little things; for example, she still enjoys listening to her favourite musicians, Strauss, Tchaikocsky and Beethoven. Her favourite movie is ‘Gone with the Wind’. She also enjoyed reading detective and mystery novels. “My favourite food is fish and I loved to dance. My favourite dance was the Valletta, which is based on the Waltz. I also loved animals, especially dogs and cats. My favourite dog breed is a Pekingnese, and I love collecting pictures of cats and teddy bears,” said Jane.
Jane was also a coffee fanatic. Her favourite hang-out place was coffee shops, and she used every excuse in the book to get to one. She was also active in church work and attended St John’s Anglican Church in Pinetown for many years.
She lived with her late son, Ian, and his wife, Heather, for the past nine years; however, she will be flying back to her homeland to live with her younger son, Trevor, and his wife, Samia, in Portchester in England on 4 June.
At 99, she is still active except for slight deficiencies in her eyesight and hearing. Her birthday wish is to spend as much more time with family as possible.
Her advice to others to reach this milestone in their life is to have everything in moderation.
