Happy 100th birthday to Jessie!

The former seamstress has cut out a new dress for her party on 18 May, writes Iris Huizinga.

At almost 100 years old, Jessie Smith is fiercely independent, productive, and funny.

The former seamstress has lived in Helensburgh for more than 80 years. Surrounded by self-made curtains and countless family pictures, dressed in slacks she has made herself, Jessie is a warm and wilful presence. I get an insight into her character when she refuses the cake her daughter Theresa has cut for her, instead disappearing into the kitchen to get a pink slice. Her daughter gives her mum a loving smile and quips: “See, that’s her independence.”

Born in 1922 in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Jessie recalls the Depression as a time where she and her family moved around a lot. They “had to live wherever we could find somewhere to live”.

Jessie: “I only had one uniform. One pair of shoes. We used to get things from the government in boxes. Things that never fit you anyway and clumpy old shoes. And I’ve always been a shoe person. I love shoes.

“We were poor. It made you appreciate what you get later in life. We have worked very hard through the years to get where we are today. We were really happy here until Bill [Jessie’s husband] went.

“Bill used to let me make the decisions ... he used to call me The Boss. He never went to bed ever without kissing me goodnight. He used to tell me every day he loved me. Every day. One day he was sitting in his chair over there and he said to me: ‘You don’t tell me you love me every day, I tell you’. ‘Well’, I said, ‘you know I do.’”

Her mother was a tailoress and taught Jessie sewing. She worked as a seamstress in a jeans factory located in Helensburgh. She also worked at the Garrawarra aged care hospital as a seamstress.

“The boss let me work through my lunchtime so I could get off [early] to get home when the kids got home from school.

“I don’t think it’s easy to live a life now with just contentment. Like when we [Jessie and Bill] were together, you didn’t have a lot of things to worry about. You just had enough money to go around and you just spent what you could afford. And if you couldn’t afford to buy it, you didn’t buy it.

“If you had a chicken to eat, that was marvellous, even if it did run around the yard with no head.”

When asked what the secret to her long life is, she says: “You just take each day as it comes, because you never know what is in front of you.

“I’ve always had something to do, I’ve never been idle … I’ve made everything in this house,
all the curtains, everything. And I have sewed all my life.”

To this day Jessie still makes her own clothes, with three sewing machines set up in the garage. With a grin she tells me what she is working on: “I’ve got a dress cut out there for me. I haven’t got many dresses. They asked me if I’d have an afternoon tea and invite some of my friends … if it just turns out right and it’s a hot day, I’ll wear it. And if it doesn’t, I’ll wear slacks.”

She laughs heartily at that.