Melanie Riley
JOY Sneath has recently celebrated a huge milestone, reaching an impressive age of 100 years old.
Alice Joyce Martin was born in Robe on August 27, 1924 to parents Reuben and Ivy Martin.
She was one of five girls, and had three brothers and the family spent a good part of Mrs Sneath’s childhood by the sea in her hometown.
Mrs Sneath’s first job was at Nana’s house, where she was a housemaid and also spent time milking the cows.
She made the move to Mount Gambier when she was 16 and worked at the Woollen Mills for about six years, which was an interesting experience coming from her previous job.
“I was scared stiff of getting my fingers caught up in the machine, but there was really no way you could get caught up in it,” Mrs Sneath said.
“Once I got the hang of it, I was fine.”
Mrs Sneath would ride a bike to work, after an attempt to learn how to drive did not go so well after she came a little too quickly down a hill and ended up on the side of the road.
“That was that, it scared me off, so I never had a licence to drive,” she said.
Mrs Sneath met Mount Benson born husband Leslie Sneath, and in time, they began their life together.
“He was going with another girl from Kingston, but when he saw me…,” she said.
When Mr Sneath returned from the Airforce, the pair were married on March 30, 1949 in Adelaide, before returning to Robe where Mr Sneath spent a majority of his working life as a fisherman.
Their family started to build while in Robe, and then continued to build after making the move to Port MacDonnell and went on to have a family of three daughters Gillian, Cheryl and Vivienne and three sons, Geoffrey, Robert and Trevor.
During their working life in Port MacDonnell, Mrs Sneath worked at the crayfish factory and focused on raising their family at home while Mr Sneah continued work as a fisherman.
The pair spent 40 years together before Mr Sneath passed away at age 62, and Mrs Sneath stayed in Port MacDonnell.
She became a Life Member of the Port MacDonnell Football and Netball Club, and is a Life Member of Meals on Wheels and the Red Cross.
Mrs Sneath spent time playing golf at the Port MacDonnell Golf Club, where she got a hole-in-one which she said was unfortunately never officially recorded as she was not a life member of the golf club.
The only trick she had to share was while she smoked in her younger days, she made sure never to draw back, which she said was the reason she was never addicted.
She went on to say while there is no secret to living a long and happy life, having good morals is the most important thing.
“Being true to yourself, and being honest,” she said.
Daughters Vivienne and Cheryl spoke highly of their mother and their childhood.
“Mum is a wonderful mother,” Vivienne said.
“We’re all still here so we make sure we return all of the love and attention she gave us.”
“She is a wonderful mother – that’s why she has us all around her now because we appreciate what she did for us,” Cheryl said.
Playing cards, Rummikub and bingo and lunching with friends around the Limestone Coast were just a few of the things Mrs Sneath has enjoyed in more recent years.
She has always been a talented knitter, knitting the children’s clothes when they were younger, and toys for both them and for charity and still spends a fair amount of time knitting.
Mrs Sneath is now the matriarch of a huge family of not only her six children, but 17 grandchildren, 33 great grandchildren and three great great grandchildren.
Now residing at Boandik Lodge, Mrs Sneath spoke highly of the facility and the staff.
“They are marvellous to me, well, to everybody,” she said.
“I couldn’t be in a better place, I’m very well looked after and I could not speak highly enough of them.”
She celebrated her milestone birthday with a big party of over 140 family and friends at the Blue Lake Golf Club.
