Smooth sailing at 102- Langford Grange Aged Care resident Betty Spence celebrated her 102nd bi

By Bridget Brady
BETTY Spence travelled by ship to Australia in 1914 and it was on that journey that she fell in love with the sea.
And Ms Spence, who turned 102 last Thursday, says the sea remains the greatest love of her life.
Ms Spence, who lives at Langford Grange Aged Care in Cranbourne, was born in England in 1907.
Her father was Australian and her mother was English. The pair met in South Africa while her father was involved in the Boer War.
“He tried to enlist here but they wouldn’t take him. So he ran away to Africa to join,” Ms Spence said.
After her father died in Canada, Ms Spence and her mother and older sister moved to Australia in 1914. It took them three weeks to arrive in Australia by ship.
“I’ve loved the sea ever since.”
Ms Spence said she moved around a bit during her life, including to places such as Black Rock, Caulfield and Elsternwick.
While Ms Spence already had a love for the sea at a young age, she soon learned to love to swim as well.
“When we came out, the first thing my grandmother said to my mother was can you all swim. My mother said no, and my grandmother said ‘no child of mine is not going to be able to swim’.”
Ms Spence has never married or had children, and said she “would have been shown the door” if she was unmarried with kids in earlier years.
Her first job was at the old capital theatre in the city and for holidays she spent a few years travelling with the Merchant Navy.
Ms Spence said she was not sure what the key to a long and healthy life was, but thought it must be attributed to good genes, as her mother and two grandparents lived into their 90s.
“I just lived. I eat anything I like.” And Ms Spence said she had always been a fan of beer.
“It was just life. There is good and bad. But I think I was always happier at the sea.”