A PRESTONDALE woman, who celebrated her 100th birthday in July, says it didn’t seem real that she has reached such a milestone. Speaking to Northglen News, Alma Williams said it seems crazy to have turned 100 years.

“One doesn’t think about turning 100. You just live but you don’t actually think that one day you will turn 100. It just crept up on me,” she said.

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She was born Alma Gladys Cooper in London on July 20, 1921 when the world had been recovering from the Spanish Flu.
The normal school-leaving age was 14 but Williams stayed on until 15 and then did a secretarial course.

She landed her first job with a cigarette paper company as a shorthand typist. Fast forward a about two decades, she married Basil Williams, who was a sailor in the Royal Navy.

“We got married when I was 18 and two hours later he had to leave because the country needed him. This was the norm for most of our marriage. It was only when Basil was in his 40s and retired, that he came home to live with me,” she said.

“We moved around a lot and in 1958 we settled in Northern Rhodesia to plant tobacco. Prior to that, I never really had a home that had my personal touches as it never belonged to me,” said Williams.

When Williams sons, Russell and Martin, and daughter, Camilla, went to boarding school, life changed.

“When I got to Northern Rhodesia, I had domestic help which was very different for me. I still did my own cooking and did sewing, knitting, Scottish country dancing, and played tennis. I was so used to doing things on my own. I then started working in admin,” she said.

During the years 1981-1991 Alma was very active in the Bathurst society.

“I became a town councillor and submitted handicrafts for judging at the Bathurst annual agricultural show. I started playing bridge seriously and read for Tape Aids in Grahamstown,” she said.

Williams also joined an organised tour to Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. She lost her husband when she was in her 90s, after being married for 63 years.

When asked about the worldly changes she has endured during her 10 decades of life, she said the change had been gradual. .

“I often wonder to myself what things would be like in 10 or 20 years time. These changes happen so gradually so you only notice how much things have changed when you sit and think back,” said Williams.