Moot resident celebrates 102nd birthday
"Over the years, some of our staff have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know her better in her profession and then later as a resident."
There was great excitement at Ons Tuis retirement village in Riviera in the Moot when the home’s oldest resident, Willie Bouwer, celebrated her 102nd birthday.
Although a special birthday celebration with relatives could not take place due to Covid-19 measures, it did not dampen the mood of Ons Tuis residents and staff members.
Bouwer’s favourite saying is that what you do, you have to do right, because there may not be another opportunity to get things right.
These wise words are something that the social worker of Ons Tuis, Natasha van Tonder, will always remember of this elegant lady.
“She is a loving lady and she lives those words to the fullest every day,” she said.
“Her fine attitude when it comes to people reveals who she is and also the level of serviceability with which she stood in her profession as a nurse. Even though she can no longer see as well as before, it is always so wonderful to me how she recognizes each one by their unique voice,” Van Tonder added.
According to Van Tonder, Bouwer’s paths crossed with Ons Tuis: Riviera, long before she became a resident there.
She was a nurse at the old age home at one point.
“Over the years, some of our staff have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know her better in her profession and then later as a resident. She is very special and we hope she had a special day,” she said.
Bouwer was born on August 30, 1919, in the Karatara area near Knysna.
She completed her school career up to grade 10, after which she received in-service training as a general nurse at Frere Hospital in East London and Klerksdorp Hospital.
During her career at Vereniging Hospital, she met her partner and fell in love with Dr Casper Bouwer, a radiologist.
They were married in 1948 and are blessed with four sons, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
According to her eldest son, Johann Bouwer (72), it was a big highlight for his mother when her sons could go to Grey College in Bloemfontein.
“My mother always said: ‘Even if I have to scrub floors, you will go to that school’,” he laughed.
During her lifetime, she endured numerous epidemics, poverty in the years after the First World War, the 1933 Depression, the Republic and the great change in 1994 politics.
“With her age, you have to, as it were, single her out of these events and add that she not only experienced them but also survived them.
“This iron woman is a good example for our children as a mother and a grandmother,” he said.
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