The 100 Project | Centenarians | United Kingdom | Phoebe Parker

View audio transcription

Now, do you know how many grandkids you have? Oh, I think I've got ten. No, eight. Eight? And ten great grand children? No, close 12. 12? And how many great, great grandkids do you have? One. Yes, the lovely Liam. Phoebe Elizabeth Parker. 103 and a half. 30th of the ninth, 1919. In Durham, South Shields, England. I've got two cats there. A black and white cat and me doll. And I put me doll in hot water and she melted. That's my father, Alexander. Clay. Yes he was a good father. Good father. I was his pet. She was Phoebe Elder MacDonald before she married. She was a dressmaker. Made all our clothes. Used to sew all... I can remember her making me stand on a chair. So she used to take the hems up. Two sisters. Mary and Margaret and my brother Don. And Joe. But his name was Joe McDonald. He had the same name as my mother so I don't know who his father was. He was coming to Australia, he was 14, but he died in the June and we came out in the October. My mother and my two sisters. Arrived on my fifth birthday. That's when we arrived from England after we got off the ship. My father, he come over before us. He come over and got us a house In Fairfield and he opened the pastry cook shop. I used to go after school and help serve in the shop and I used to make the lamingtons. Yes. Yes. I was seven when my mother died. Cancer. And I missed her a lot. She’d go into the hospital on her own. Yeah, because my father used to go away at sea. He was in the Navy. She made me as a dress maker. My mother was a beautiful lady and she died so young. I think she was about 39 when she died. and I really missed her when when she died. My father. tried to look after us but he ended up.... He went back to sea. He was in the Navy. He put us in the Church of England Girls home in Brighton and I was there till I was 14. I had me two sisters, Mary and Margaret. They were in what they called the hostel for girls and that was next door to the home that I was in. Once a week we used to have to clean the knives and forks and spoons and put them in a line and if anything was missing we had to look for it before we could go and have our dinner. And I used to nick over to the girls hostel where me two sisters were living and I used to get the spoons and forks from them. My father married, then me stepmother took us out and she was a lovely stepmother. Ada. She was lovely. She got me into an apprenticeship dressmaking. Yeah. In Glenferrie Road, Malvern. We used to go to dressmaking at Armadale School on a Wednesday, I come back to school one Wednesday and they told me, one of the girls told me, that the brother was in Mr. Lindson’s and he was getting into trouble. He wasn’t supposed to be playing in the big yard and I went in the room to get Don, my brother, and he had me brother over the desk to belt him with the strap and I grabbed the strap off him. And as I pulled the strap it hit him in the face. And I had to go to the headmaster. I worked in a children's ware shop in Toorak and I met General MacArthur's wife and they came out to Australia. His son was only four and I made a shirt for him. A little shirt with feathers stitched around the collar. Hand sewing. His name was Arthur MacArthur. We got dressed up to go to the Tivoli in the city, Melbourne, to see Nelson Eddy He was my favorite film star. He couldn’t act but he could sing. Had a lovely singing voice. And then I seen him at the Tivoli. And then I went to... there was a theater at St Kilda, we went to see him there. He was my boyfriend. My heart throb. “I love you”. I love that. “I’m always dreaming of you”. That's when I joined the army. That's me duffel bag. What they call your duffel bag and you keep your underwear and stuff in it. Keep your clothes in it. I just wanted to do something for my country. Well, I was on on the switchboard most of the time. Answer phones, take any messages that come through from Japan. At the beginning, we were doing Morse code. Yes... weren't allowed to talk about what we were doing in Signals in case we got through to the Japanese. We were on oath not to, you know, let anyone know what's going through the phones. You go in a tent and they give you a mattress and it’s filled with straw and you sleep on the ground. We used to go every Saturday and fill it up with fresh straw. Three girl friends, we kept in touch after the army. We’d nick under the fence to go into the city in town. Go to the pictures. After we got married, we weren't allowed to be in the same unit, so they transferred me to Pay Corp in the city, doing the wages. Oddfellows building in Swanston Street. Yeah, I met Pa, he was a driver in the army, Graham Parker. He wouldn't have anything to do with any of us girls. And I had to go to the dentist to get a tooth fixed and he was the only driver, and that's when we started going out together. Oh, we just sort of took to one another. I locked him in the food fridge one day. And when we opened the fridge he’d eaten half the chicken legs. My father wasn't very happy because he was a Catholic and I was a Protestant. We went to the registry office and got married with my sister. Elder sister came and and she was my guardian because he didn't approve of Graham. Oh, we both loved each other and did whatever we did together. No marriage is perfect. There's always odds and ends to fix up. We had a happy life together. 69 and a half years. Wedding anniversary. 50th wedding anniversary. Go through all your arguments and things and come out on top. Well, he was my life. I got pregnant with my daughter. Made my life having children. Lovely. Judith, Lynette and Graham. and grandchildren. Just to think that I made them and they’re mine. I was 99 when I found out that I had another brother. Roy. My sister used to say that she knew a secret she'd tell me one day. And my sister has passed on and I think that's the secret that she had, about us having another brother. Elsie was his mother, Elsie was his mother, I think, Elsie McDonald. She used to be a friend of my mother's. I can remember her. Used to stay at our place. Yeah. Yeah, My father he’d be playing up. Yes. Felt sorry for my mother and I was wondering if, you know, she knew that the father had another son from somebody else. He was the same age as my other brother so I had two brothers at the same age. His mother put him in an orphanage when he was born. In the boys home. Terrible, lonely life for him. Till he was 16 and he ran away and joined, joined the army. He made army his life. So we went and met him. And he was the image of me father. it was nice to get to meet him It was lovely to know [him]. Just a shame that he had to be put into an orphanage. We look like twins, don't we? Yeah, I know. Very much. Quite nice, because his wife said he was that happy to think that he could live now and knew he had family. She said he thought he was going to die an orphan. I think that's enough, don’t you?

Thanks To

Carolyn Gebbing, Judith Paterson

Phoebe Parker

"My sister used to say she knew a secret she'd tell me one day"

When centenarian Phoebe was 99 a family secret was revealed

Now 103 years, Phoebe has lived a life full of resilience, love, and unexpected surprises. Arriving in Australia from England as a young child, tragedy struck when she lost her mother just two years later. Despite the hardships that followed, Phoebe’s vibrant spirit and sense of humour remained intact throughout her time in an orphanage.

Her family has been a constant source of joy throughout her long life. From her own children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even a great-great-grandchild, Phoebe has found immeasurable happiness.

At the age of 99, the universe had one last surprise in store for her when she discovered the existence of another brother. Embracing this newfound family connection, Phoebe’s story serves as an inspiration to all, reminding us that laughter, resilience, and the warmth of family should be cherished every step of the way.