By Kyra Gillespie
Eve Conroy is turning 100 this month, and to celebrate members of the Pakenham bingo group held a party at the Senior Citizens Centre.
Eve was born in Kensington, Melbourne, on 17 August, 1917.
The eldest of seven, Eve has worked in a variety of jobs including book binding, millinery, Sunday school teaching, assisting her mother making jockey silks, and the most recent being a TAB clerk.
She was also a regular, very well-dressed race goer.
After marrying, she moved to Clayton South where she lived for 42 years, raising her three children.
Eve also has six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Moving to Pakenham 18 years ago, Eve immediately joined the Pakenham Bowling Club and the Senior Citizens Club, where she made new friends easily.
She became an expert at making home-brewed beer over some 40 years, which, she says, enabled her to save money for her holidays.
A well-seasoned traveller, Eve went on her first cruise in 1976 on the original Fairsky.
That gave her the taste for cruising, and over the course of the next 38 years she went on a total of 23 cruises.
Visiting places such as Dubai, Alaska, New Zealand, all the South Pacific islands and China- where she climbed the Great Wall- and many other cities around the world.
Eve became a gold class member of the QE2 ocean liner, then later of the Queen Mary.
Not to miss out on Australia, she has also been on the Indian Pacific and The Ghan train trips.
When asked what her secret is to her long and healthy life, Eve says, “I have never had a driver’s licence and walked everywhere I went for years. I only use my pink walking stick now, and have always eaten a lot of vegetables and fruit. But the most important piece of advice is to have and always keep a great sense of humour.“
“And just quietly, a beer or a red wine each night and sometimes a Baileys!“
