Thelma (Clare) Grant (nee Johnson)’s century of life was celebrated recently with family when she became an eligible recipient of a congratulatory letter from her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth II for her 100th birthday.
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Clare as she likes to be affectionally known was born on July 5, 1921, in Essendon, Melbourne before moving to Yarrawonga when she was eight, well and truly making her a local of the town.
“Mum used to walk to state school everyday which was a bit of a trek, but she enjoyed the outdoors,” Clare’s daughter Alison said.
In her teenage years, Clare’s father purchased ‘Cobrawonga’ which Clare helped the family run and this was a great joy of Clare’s as she loved the property dearly.
As a young woman, Clare loved cats and horses, owning an ex-racehorse called ‘Windy’ who she used to ride to the show at the Yarrawonga Showgrounds, always winning the best woman rider.
Windy was one of Clare’s greatest loves and much of Clare’s spare time was spent tending to and riding Windy of who she was often complimented on.
On January 16, 1943, Clare married the love of her life John Grant and they moved to a little old weatherboard home called “it’ll do.”
After four years they built a new home in McNally Street but subsequently built and moved to 18 Irvine Parade where they lived overlooking the lake for 46 years.
John owned the flower mill with John Wilson and was well-known around town.
Two years after their nuptials Clare and John welcomed the first of their three children, David in 1945 before Alison came along six years later in 1951 and John in 1959.
Over the years in Yarrawonga Mulwala Clare has had a love for and been involved in both golf and bowls of which she was a handy player in each sport.
She has also had a great involvement in the community as she was one of the founding members of the Innerwheel and was the inaugural District Governor as well as helping in a number of differing groups and activities where needed.
Clare and John were married for 73 years with John lovingly always calling Clare “my girl” before he sadly passed away in 2016, nevertheless the couple were lucky to spend over seven decades of a loving, wonderful life, and marriage together.
Now Clare is in Warrina Aged Care where she is well looked after with Alison often visiting and taking her to appointments. Clare also now has seven grandchildren and one great grandson.
To celebrate her milestone day family travelled from Albury, Melbourne and Toowoomba to join in on a lunch at the Yarrawonga Hotel with everyone having a lovely day with the birthday girl.
