Betty bright as ever at 100

Independent. Positive. Inspirational. That is how 100-year-old Betty Haughton is often described by friends and loved ones.

A happy resident of Rand Aid’s Ron Smith Care Centre, Betty celebrated her centenary on April 19. A tea party was held on the Saturday before her birthday, and was attended by many family members and friends. She was presented with 100 pink roses to mark the occasion.

One of Betty’s fondest memories is flying from England to South Africa after her husband, Norman Atkins, who was a major in the army, accepted a position here with an insurance company. They had four weeks to sell everything before they left to fly south in a chartered Dakota DC-3... with a four-week-old baby in tow. Betty remembers that the journey took five days and four nights and they had to stop every four hours or so to refuel.

In seven decades that she has lived in South Africa, Betty says she has never been homesick, although she has returned three times to visit family in England.

London-born and raised Betty, who has two sons and a brood of grandchildren and great grandchildren, was the youngest of six children.

She lost her first husband, Norman, in 1993, and later married Leslie Haughton.

A keen bowls and bridge player in her younger days, Betty now attends occupational therapy at the care centre, enjoying a range of arts and crafts that keep her mind and fingers nimble.

“She the custodian of family tales and will often correct me when I get my facts wrong,” shares niece Sheila Tebbit, remembering that when she attended St Mary’s, her aunt was always at school events to support her and her widowed mother.

“She worked for many years as secretary of Linksfield Primary School,” says Sheila, “and when I recall her home, I think of classical music and encyclopaedias.”