Oak Bay Lodge resident Judy Cable was nonplussed about turning 100 on Monday.
“I’ll feel fine after all this palaver is over,” she remarked during a party held in her honour at the Lodge on Oct. 23.
The occassion was marked by a giant cake with pink and white frosting and a visit from Gabrielle Lyall’s Grade 2/3 class from Ecole Willows elementary who entertained and brought handmade cards for the centenarian.
Born in Rawalpindi, India, now an area of Pakistan, Cable is one of 11 siblings born to parents stationed with the British Army during British rule.
Cable went to boarding school in India and remembers her childhood days as wonderful. “We could do what we wanted and go where we wanted and have happy times.”
She moved back to England with her family at age 16 where she met and married her husband Stan, who died at age 62.
“Stan and his friend asked you to a dance … you were a pick up,” teased Cable’s daughter-in-law Gayle Cable to provoke a memory.
“Stan was the pick up. I wasn’t,” Cable quickly retorted with a chuckle.
The couple have two sons, Norman, Gayle’s husband, and Tony, and moved to Canada in 1948 and Victoria in 1949.
A hairdresser by trade, Cable claims to still do hair for the ladies “upstairs” but may be remembered for her years at Field’s downtown where she worked for several years, said Norman.
The family lived in several areas of Victoria, owning some 10 homes across the city at various times.
At 100, Cable enjoys good health, spicy food and says the key to longevity is: “Be happy and do a lot of happy things. Like going shopping.”