Pauline Potts was born in 1918 at Enfield in Sydney. On Wednesday, June 28, she celebrated her 105th birthday.
She is one of the Hunter's oldest living residents.
She lived through a World War, a Cold War, two global pandemics a century apart, the reigns of five British monarchs, the invention of television and the internet; she has lived through the era of the walkman, the discman, the iPod, and the iPhone, and the terms of no less than 27 Australian Prime Ministers.
She served her country in the Australian Women's Army during World War II, survived the Great Depression, fell in love, married, had children, travelled the world and attained her Arts Degree.
Mrs Potts has lived through more than virtually any other Hunter resident, and even at the venerable age of 102, was still living independently at her home on the Central Coast before moving into care at Waratah to be closer to her children, four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
After such a life, lived - as the saying goes - in interesting times, it was difficult to know where to begin when I had the chance to speak to Mrs Potts just before she celebrated her 105th birthday.
"I think I'm lucky," she said, revealing a wry wit and a kind humour that I suspect she has carried with her most of her life. "I really feel fairly well - I have my days but I'm lucky to be here, I guess."
Then, later, with a chuckle: "I'm not so happy that I had to move into a nursing home. But they do their best for us and I have a very good daughter."
Immediately, when speaking with Mrs Potts, you are met with a sense of strongly held independence. As a young girl, she was forced to leave her education at Burwood Girls' High School at the height of the Great Depression and find work as a secretary with energy provider AGL.
"I was fairly lucky," she said, "Because I was quite good at shorthand and typing. And because I had that experience, I was able to find a job and in those days if you had a good job, you stuck to it.
"Not like the kids today - they're able to change jobs fairly easily.
"It wasn't always easy (for us). I remember kids didn't have the advantages that they do today, but I think more education provides opportunities. But even with those opportunities today, it's still hard for kids to get jobs. So, I understand."
Mrs Potts' life has been one etched by experience. During her military service, where she rose to the rank of sergeant, she met and fell in love with her war hero husband, Gordon Potts. The pair were married in 1946.
Mr Potts served at Tobruk and later was deployed to New Guinea and the Kokoda Track where he tragically contracted malaria and was later discharged.
He died in 1961 at the age of 46.
"I met him when I was on leave. He used to write to one of my sisters," Mrs Potts said, adding with a laugh, "He was a very nice man - at least, I thought he was."
But as the War ended, and after Mr Potts sadly passed away, Mrs Potts found herself yearning to return to her education.
"I used to get in trouble," she said, reminiscing about her childhood, "My mother would think I was making my bed and I'd be reading a book."
She returned to TAFE at first for her HSC and later graduated from Macquarie Univeristy (which she remembers as little more than a paddock under construction) in 1984.
"I just liked the subjects," she said, "I didn't like maths very much, but I was good at English."
With a century's experience, I asked what advice she could offer someone living through their own interesting times.
"I hope you live to a long age," she said, "Treat new experiences as good - there are some good ones and I'm sure you will have a lot more to do; a lot more experiences than we had."
