100-year-old Effie Botha, who celebrated her birthday on Thursday, 27 February, was praised for the love, care and wisdom she has given so generously throughout her life.
Effie celebrated the amazing milestone with close family and friends in an intimate party at the Harlequins Sports Club on Saturday.
The centenarian is the proud mother of four children, 26 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren, 10 great great grandchildren and one great great great grandchild. Her only daughter Elaine Fouche, 73, shared that Effie has always had a calm spirit with a reserved nature. “Growing up, she was a very quiet mother, whereas my dad was the strict one in the house. We’ve always been a very close and tight-knit family. My mother and I especially shared a love for music. Jim Reeves, a country singer from years ago, was one of our favourite singers back in the day. We would play his records in the lounge and sing a long, much to my dad’s irritation,” she reminisced.
Effie worked at a sweet factory in her younger years before becoming a stay at home mom to raise her children in Richards Bay. She since moved down to Durban to live with one of her son’s Theuins Botha.
Asked what the secret is to Effie’s long life, Elaine said that it must be the warm love she gets from her big family. “We love her very much and I think that is what has kept her here with us so long. We’re not ready to let her go. We thank God for sparing her for a whole 100 years, the love she has given us and for bringing us up the best way she could,” said Elaine.
Thanks go to Harlequins Sports Club managers, Chantal Horrocks, Brennan Rodger and Cindy Hassett for their assistance in organising the special event.
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