90-Year-old celebrates milestone birthday and inspires with her health and resilience
She has even lived through a war of independence in a neighbouring country.
A resident of the Carletonville area turned 90 last weekend, but is still so strong and healthy that she will leave many younger people behind.
Connie Pretorius celebrated her 90th birthday on November 2 with friends and family at Goudvlakte Wes, where she stays with her eldest son, George de Wet.
Few people would, however, think that this bright-eyed pensioner is this old, as she walks upright and still has an extremely clear mind.
“I am still very healthy and can still read, knit, write and do word-searches, especially when the children do not want me doing the dishes anymore,” she says.
She and her late husband, George, had 11 children, seven of which are still alive. She also has 22 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great grandchild. Pretorius grew up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, and talks of the many times when she and her family were narrowly spared from being attacked during this country’s civil war.
Pretorius later resettled in South Africa but moved around a lot.
“I believe that my mother is still doing so well, even when she went through hardship herself, because she loves Jesus and honoured her parents until they passed away,” says Pretorius’s daughter, Cornelia Slabbert.
The highlight of her birthday was the fact that her youngest daughter, Ella Johnson, arrived the day before her birthday all the way from England.
