A Life Well Grown – Celebrating 100 Years of Merle

Merle grew up on a farm, and she will tell you that is where her story begins.

There was no electricity, just kerosene lamps and hard work, home grown vegetables pulled from good soil and a way of life that taught her to take things as they came.

It was tough, but it was also rich in its own way. 

As a young woman, Merle dreamed of running her own shop, something built around dressmaking and her love of fabric and craft.

While that particular dream took a different shape, she did learn to sew and later made clothes for her children, something she looks back on with quiet pride. 

When the war came, Merle tried to enlist in the Army at 18. She was turned away because her work as a greengrocer was classified as an essential service. It is one of the few things she wishes had gone differently. 

The love of her life was Henry James, known to everyone as Jimmy.

She lights up talking about him, particularly the memory of the two of them going bowling together for the first time. It is the kind of moment, she says; she wishes everyone could have. 

One of her sharpest memories from a long life is the 1931 Melbourne Cup, when White Nose won at long odds to beat the great Phar Lap in one of the most talked about results of the era.

She remembers it like it was yesterday. 

Merle’s advice is practical “don’t speculate, pay cash and build steadily toward your future”. 

Her secret to reaching 100 is equally grounded: good food from good soil, an even temperament and the right people alongside you. 

Her favourite song is I’ll Be There, and she has found real contentment in the community around her at Respect, describing it as a different kind of lifestyle surrounded by wonderful people. 

A century of living, rooted in the land and anchored by love.