Cape Town - Beatrice van Schalkwyk – affectionately named “Aunty Beatie” – belted out a hearty laugh after comically sharing that she looked forward to the next 100 years.
A birthday not many get to witness in their own lifetimes, the Rondebosch-born Van Schalkwyk celebrated her 100th birthday on Thursday at her home in Garlandale.
Born in 1923, the eldest of six siblings said she did not think she would see the day.
At a 90th birthday celebration for her, when asked how she would be celebrating her 100th birthday in 10 years, she jokingly said that she could be found at the cemetery where her siblings were buried.
Instead, 10 years later, family and friends gathered around to celebrate her long life, kind spirit, warmth and service to all.
“I was born in Rondebosch. They used to call it Berg’s cottages in the former years. It was near a river and in 1930 it wasn’t apartheid but segregation started, saying the coloured people must all move to the flats,” she said.
“When I was a child I used to look up and say, ‘we are so poor, will I ever be on an aeroplane?' I’ve flown in an aeroplane 39 times,” she said proudly.
A bulk of these trips had been to Johannesburg, and she has also flown to Zimbabwe, Mauritius and the Comoros.
“I used to fill in the competitions of the Cape Argus and Cape Times, and I won a competition in 1989 to the Comoros Island; me and my husband for nine days,” she said.
At the age of 14, Van Schalkwyk started working in the clothing and textile industry. Due to her stature, she had managed to get away with it although under-aged as the minimum age for work at the time was 16 years old. Her colleagues at the time arranged a surprise 21st birthday party, not knowing she was two years younger.
She stopped working at the age of 79 after her mother had fallen ill.
“I was told I was going to lose out on a lot of my benefits so I said that doesn’t matter because I can never get another mother. But what I did when I came home, I took on alterations. I never used to charge anybody, I used to say just give me what you want to give.”
Today, Van Schalkwyk continues to sew, knit and crochet in her spare time, donating all the items made to her local church, St Mary of the Angels, on Lawrence Road, with some items such as door stoppers, toys and table cloths sold at church bazaars.
“I can’t sit and wait for death to come, it takes so long to come so what I’m doing now with the odds and ends pieces of cloth that I have, beads and cotton, I’ll make little door stoppers,” she said.
“In the afternoon I have two hours rest and then I’m up again and start sewing again. I can still thread the needle without glasses.”
At 100 years old, Van Schalkwyk is the picture of pristine health, quick-witted, with copious amounts of energy and humour.
“A few times I just collapsed and then they will get in paramedics here and then they can’t find any fault.”
Her son, Terence Douglas van Schalkwyk, 64, attributed her long years to her lifestyle. During her life she did not smoke or drink alcohol, and took care of her health through the food she consumed.
The church said that Van Schalkwyk was one of the oldest and one of the original parishioners of St Mary of the Angels, sharing that over the years she sewed many altar cloths and linen for the church, priests, and extraordinary minister of holy communion, and continued to sew in service of the church.