Centenarian celebrates milestone birthday with loved ones
One of Magaliesburg's oldest residents celebrated her 100th birthday recently.
The life story of Magaliesburg’s Elisabeth Catharina van Wulfften Palthe-Osinga is extraordinary.
Her life spans more than a century, beginning with her birth in the Netherlands and ending with her 100th birthday celebration in South Africa, where she presently resides at the Golden Harvest Retirement Village.
Co-editor of the Golden Harvest newsletter, Susan van Rensburg, said Elisabeth was born on September 14, 1924, in the city of Zwolle, Netherlands, where she married Ake Palthe on October 29, 1945 (also the same year that World War 2 ended). The couple then had five children together — three born in the Netherlands and two in South Africa.
Susan continued that Elisabeth and her husband arrived In SA on a ship called the MS Zuiderkruis on November 6, 1953. They then moved to Magaliesburg to manage a farm called Maloney’s Eye. Later, they moved successively to a farm on Vaalbank (April 1956 to June 1971), then to Hekpoort (July 1971 to February 1976) and finally to Vlakdrift (March 1976 to March 1989) where they retired.
“On April 1, 1989, the couple moved into Golden Harvest. Elisabeth and Ake celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on October 29, 1995. Sadly, Ake passed away eight years later on March 31, 2003, following a short illness,” Susan said.
“On September 14, Elisabeth celebrated her milestone 100th birthday with family and friends who came from as far as Holland, Ireland, Cape Town and surrounding areas. The event took place in the Golden Harvest community hall. She still lives independently today in the same house she and her husband moved into 35 years ago and still does all her housework with the help of her faithful domestic worker,” Susan added.
According to Susan, Elisabeth loves playing croquet and believe it or not, on September 12, just two days before her 100th birthday, she was spotted on the croquet lawn, mallet in hand.
“Elisabeth, we wish you a year of good health, blessings from our Heavenly Father, and that you will be surrounded by your loved ones and beautiful flowers, just as beautiful as you,” Susan concluded.
