At the tender age of 14, Frank Mawer lost his mother, left school and he and his three youngest sisters became wards of the state because his father was too old to look after them.
Frank's father was 20 years older than his mother.
Frank was born in Croydon in Sydney's inner west on August 15, 1912.
He has lived through two pandemics (Spanish flu and COVID-19), two World Wars and the Great Depression.
Frank turns 110 on Monday at his home on the South Coast.
After a brief stay in a boys' home in Glebe, 14-year-old Frank was sent to a farm near Kempsey where he milked cows for two years.
Great Depression, WWII disrupt the aspiring builder
His older brother brought him back to Sydney where in 1928, aged 16, he got a builder's apprenticeship.
"Then came the Great Depression and there was no work."
Frank would cycle from his digs near Central Station to suburbs like Burwood and Strathfield to do gardening, mow lawns, "anything to make money".
At one point he was doing some renovation work in a factory that made overalls for railway workers and sometimes he worked there when there was nothing else.
There he met Lil who worked in the factory's office. Frank was 22 and Lil was 16.
"I knew there was no future. We were in a recession but we started going out together."
They married five years later in 1939.
Frank joined the Pentecostal Church when he was 18 and during WWII was a conscientious objector for religious reasons.
"Instead of taking up arms, I worked for the army."
His jobs during the war included working on a building in Baronta in north west Queensland to store ammunition and working in a factory near Cooks River making the Perspex turrets for Spitfire fighter aircrafts.
After the war, Frank resumed work as a carpenter and eventually became a builder.
He built high-quality architect-designed homes and apartment blocks, as well as a church in Rockdale.
Frank quoted for a large renovation project for a religious organisation in Rose Bay.
Unfortunately inflation spiked which left Frank unable to finish the project because the money had run out. He did complete it by working for no wages and was bankrupt.
Frank spent the last 10 years of his working life as a maintenance carpenter at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney.
They asked the devout Frank why he didn't work on Sundays given it was double pay.
He answered, "I don't work on Sundays because on Sundays I am praying for you."
Living independently
Lil and Frank sold the family home and bought a newly-built unit in Gymea where they lived for "20-odd years".
For those last years Lil had dementia and Frank cared for her. Eventually she had to go into a nursing home where Frank visited her every day until she passed away in 2008. They were married almost 70 years.
Remarkably, Frank lived independently in his Gymea home until November 2021 when he made the difficult decision to move to Central Tilba on the NSW Far South Coast to live with Philip, one of his sons, and Philip's partner.
Frank said his happiest memories are of his family. "I lived for my family".
During his life "we have gone from horse and cart to motor cars and aeroplanes and advances in technology. We have probably raced ahead of ourselves."
Frank's birthday celebration will be held on Saturday, August 13, with his five surviving children and many of his 12 grandchildren, 24 great-grandchildren and "at least" four great, great-grand children via Zoom.
