Thelma’s Story
We were recently able to sit down and have a chat with Thelma, one of our valued Meals on Wheels Central Coast clients. At the age of 99, Thelma had a few stories to tell, and we were more than willing to listen!
Having lived at Bellingen and Coffs Harbour for the majority of her life, Thelma and her husband Gar ran a cake shop in Coffs Harbour called Orchards for many years. Thelma said Gar was the ‘best pastry cook’ and the reputation for their business and their delicious goods spread far and wide over the years. They not only had regulars in their community frequent their shop, but vacationers who had sampled their wares would keep coming back for more year after year. One client even found out about how good their cakes were from a stranger on a train trip. To this day Thelma still loves her cake and eats it every day.
Thelma was a Jack of all trades in their business, doing whatever needed to be done, at the same time bringing up three children. It was an extremely busy life, especially when Thelma also needed to fit in another love of hers …. dancing.
Thelma loved to dance. ‘Dancing was my life’, she told us, and she has ‘worked hard and partied hard’ during her life but ‘never hurt anyone along the way’. She also ‘hasn’t run out of swear words yet.’
With three children, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, Thelma says it’s lovely to revisit the memories from the past years, some, of course, being of life during WWII.
Thelma can also be found watching tennis on the television, having played the game herself until she was 94, only giving it up as she got a tad puffed. She also counts David Baldacci as one of her favourite authors, and this was evident by the many books of his that lined her book shelves in her home. She also loves a good crossword puzzle to help keep her brain moving.
It was an honour to sit down and talk to Thelma, and we are so glad that for the past year or so our service has been able to assist her with her meals and save her the chore of cooking, as well as helping Thelma remain independent in her own home.
