WATCH: North granny lives through 101 years of wars, medication and technology

A youthful, friendly and elegant resident from the Montana Retirement Village celebrated her 101st birthday on 22 February 2021.

The exceptional Bessie Keet was born in 1920, and she celebrated her special day surrounded by friends and family.

Bessie has two children, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, all of whom are scattered all over the country, some even residing as far away as Russia.

“What an honour to have my mother here today. She battled pneumonia during the Covid-19 pandemic, spent 10 days in hospital, and here she is today, healthy and happy,” said daughter Ilse Lombard.

Bessie was born in Piet Retief 101 years ago, shortly after the First World War – and experienced so much in the past century. It’s hard to believe one person can see and feel so much in one lifetime.

“I’m just one of those experiences. Mum was five years old when Afrikaans replaced Dutch as the second official language after English in our country. She was 10 years old when women in South Africa got the right to vote. During her lifetime, antibiotics, insulin, penicillin, the polio vaccine and the hearing aid were all invented.

“The ballpoint pen was new, as was photocopying, the transistor radio, paper napkins, disposable diapers and later TV, the microwave, computer and the internet. She experienced World War II; the atomic bomb in Hiroshima; the Great Depression; the erection and fall of the Berlin wall during the Cold War; the replacement of LPs with compact discs/CDs; the landing of Neil Armstrong on the moon, and the first heart transplant. She grew up with pounds and shillings at a time when the British royal house was much more for South Africans than just glamorous European royals appearing on the cover of You magazine from time to time,” Ilse told Rekord proudly of her mother’s life.

“The British monarch was still grappling with our banknotes, and my mum and her five siblings were often transported around in a horse-drawn carriage – she says they called it a ‘staircase’. We are also so privileged to have her sister, aunt Martie, who herself turned 99 on 17 February.”

Bessie met her husband Rynier at the University of Pretoria where she completed her studies to become a social worker.

“She completed her studies cum laude at a time when few women embarked on tertiary studies. She married my equally wonderful father in 1945 and assisted him as a minister’s wife for 40 years – first in Waterval-Bo, then in Barberton and finally in Arcadia, Pretoria. They were married for a full 57 years and nine months when he died in 2003.”

Ilse describes her mother as an exceptional woman. One who always smiles, and a woman who has a profound love of reading.

“Mum has always been a very special person. I have never seen her angry in my 55 years, and she has endless patience. Her inherited love of reading I inherited from her belly and legs just like that. Even today I struggle to keep up with carrying enough books for her.

“I will never forget how my mom introduced me to the richness of books as a little girl – every Friday morning when I was five we walked to the mobile library and I could pick out four books. Children were only allowed to choose two at the time, and they were pretty strict about it, but my mum allocated two of her quota to me.”

Ilse describes her mother’s love for the small and special things in life affected her deeply while growing up.

“My mother’s extraordinary love for cats, beautiful music, singing, and language also made a deep and lasting impression on me, and I got all those qualities from her.

“My mum has experienced a lot of sadness in her life, with three children she lost to unnatural circumstances. In addition, we really miss my dad. If there is one thing that makes this day very difficult for me and my sister, Mariki, it is that our father, our two brothers, Danie and André, and our sister, Anatolié, cannot celebrate with us.

“Thank you mum, for a lifetime of love and support, understanding and support. Thank you for mum’s example of true femininity, stylishness, dignity, integrity, perseverance and unwavering faith.

“I can’t wait to celebrate her 102nd birthday next year,” Ilse said.

Watch Besie Keet’s friends and family sing happy birthday:

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