Evergreen: 104-year-old Ringwood resident Glad Dunckley with daughter Vicki. Picture: Rob Carew
ON the shelves above Glad Dunckley's well-worn armchair sits a three-dimensional model of a grandmother defying her age and riding a Harley Davidson, with the slogan: "World's coolest grandma".
Farther along, and in between pictures of her six great grandchildren, sits another cartoon-like grandma decked out in gangster-style jewellery, exclaiming "Bling it on".
"My grandson got me that one; I like it," Mrs Dunckley says matter -of-factly.
The shelves speak volumes about this fun-loving grandma who turned 104 yesterday — they reveal she still has a wicked sense of humour.
"Yes, I have friends here," she says, referring to the Blue Willows Aged Care home in Ringwood, where she now lives. "But a lot of them are dying."
As she laughs cheekily, her only child Vicki tries hard not to follow her mother's lead and scolds her that she shouldn't say things like that.
"But it's true!" she replies.
The pint-sized centenarian still enjoys a beer, although to her disgust she has recently had to ween herself off heavy beer, which doesn't agree with her 36-kilogram frame.
"It's what I like. [Light beers] are alright, but in the time I've got left I'd rather have VB," she says with a sly look at Vicki.
Behind the cheerful exterior is a strong soul hardened by tougher times during the war and the Great Depression of the early 1930s.
"Things were tough. I think that's what makes you tougher. I look around at other people today and I think, oh my God, if you'd been through what I have," she says.
Mrs Dunckley spent most of her life as a home-maker, although she turned a lifelong passion for sewing into a dress-making business in the 1930s, often working until 3am.
Mrs Dunckley says the best times of her life were from the ages 15 to 20 when she would dance most nights of the week with friends at the now-defunct Green Mill Dance Theatre in St Kilda.
"My poor old legs won't let me do it now," she says.
While Mrs Dunckley can't dance, she can still walk and often visits shopping centres with her daughter.
Her husband Bill died in 2002. She speaks glowingly of the man she shared more than 70 years of marriage with. Much of their social life centred around the Essendon Football Club, the club she has supported since moving to the suburb in 1921.
Mrs Dunckley's brother-in-law Elton 'Duffy' Plummer played 141 games for the club and coached it for seven games in 1944 while then-VFL legend Dick Reynolds was suffering from appendicitis.
By her own admission, she "doesn't have long to go", but no doubt she's going to enjoy every second.