Eva Turns 100

YESTERDAY Eva Mary Cone celebrated her 100^th birthday surrounded by friends and family.

Mrs Cone said she was overwhelmed by the lovely party yesterday and said it was all a bit surreal.

“Well I knew there was a good many coming to the party, but I was surprised by how many there were,” said Mrs Cone.

“My daughter Elaine worked her little tail off,” she said.

“It was very exciting to turn 100.

“The afternoon tea part was absolutely stacked with people and the talk and the noise from the room was lovely,” she smiled.

“I never thought I’d make 100, but my mum was only six weeks away from making it to 100 and Ronald (her husband) died when he was 91.

Mrs Cone has two children, six grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and two great great grandchildren and as we publish another great grandchild is on the way.

Eva Mary Cone was born in Stewarts Brook and was one of eight Collison children, she had six brothers and one sister.

When she was 24 years of age she married Ronald Cone, who was from Woolooma and was 28 when they married.

“He did all of his courting on horseback,” she laughed.

“Ronald went off to war not long after we were married and of course I stayed at home helping on the farm.

“When Ronald came back from New Guinea he had a bad back and was never really well after the war,” she said.

“We lived in Woolooma and when we had two children, Elaine and Donald we bought a little two seater car to get to town,” she said.

“Before that it was the sulky to get to town,” she said.

Mrs Cone recalls it would take a day to get to town by sulky, another day in town to do the shopping and a day to travel home.

She explained the sulky was quicker than on horseback, because the horse could trot to pull the sulky, but you couldn’t trot all the way to town on horseback.

“Apart from the war years and when we lost our first child, I have had a very good life,” said Mrs Cone.

“There was no convenience when I was young, but it didn’t worry me because I wasn’t used to anything else and we were always on horseback.

“Before electricity we only had candle light and lamps, but after that we got spoiled with TVs and toasters and things,” she chuckled.

“We all grew up working hard, but I always thought that was fine,” she said.

“We built a house at Woolooma and we didn’t move into Scone until the 60’s.

“We had a very happy life, I enjoyed playing tennis and I never smoked and I never drank,” she said.

Mrs Cone said her advice to younger people is simple.

“I just lived on every day and I always loved people,” she said.

“Love everybody, be truthful, don’t lead people astray.

“Just make it that way that you don’t think about anything else, just being happy, do things to be positive,” Eva Cone said.