Hospital staff ensure 100-year-old Susie gets party she deserves
A woman who has lived through four monarchs celebrated her 100th birthday at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital yesterday in the company of her family.
Plans for a party at her home in Four Crosses, Powys, at the weekend were postponed after she suffered a fall and was taken to RSH and placed on the Clinical Decisions Unit.
But that didn’t stop Susie Mary Jay from celebrating the milestone, as staff on the unit came to the rescue and arranged for her to mark the momentous occasion in a side room filled with balloons, cards and a three-tier cake decorated in edible pictures from her youth.
“My family means the world to me so to celebrate this day with them is wonderful,” said Susie, a mother-of-three with eight grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.
Susie, nee Thomas, was born in London, on 4 November 1915 where she met and married her late husband Richard Jay in 1937. She was evacuated to Tregaron on the west Wales coast during the Second World War and quickly fell in love with the rugged countryside and community spirit.
Upon retirement, having by this point learned to speak Welsh, the couple moved to Four Crosses in 1974 and one-by-one the family followed until they had all settled within a few miles of each other in 1979.
“She has probably been more active in mid Wales than ever before,” said daughter Wendy Jenner.
“Mum is, or has been, a member of pretty much every organisation going, the Mothers’ Union, the Women’s Institute and the Community Council to name but a few. She even did a paper round in the village, right up until 1988.
“She is such an inspirational lady. She is always happy and has never taken life too seriously. She enjoys singing, used to love sequence dancing and even though she is in hospital she is joyous and love making people laugh.
“I cannot thank the hospital staff enough. They have been great, really accommodating in allowing us to celebrate her birthday as a family.”
When asked for the secret to a happy life, the former General Post Office telephonist who has outseen 18 Prime Ministers, responded: “Keep on eating, I enjoy my food and am looking forward to a big slice of birthday cake.”
