Dorothea is passing on wisdom from her mother to future generations

Dorothea Martin celebrated her 98th birthday in the same week as Mother’s Day this year - and her family celebrated both events right alongside her.

Dorothea lives at Carmelite Residential Care and she has a close-knit, loving family.

All three of her children shared afternoon tea with her for her birthday, and her four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren also visit regularly.

“My family life has been wonderful really, no worries there, and look at my beautiful family,” Dorothea said.

“We’ve always been a close family and it's just marvellous, we always keep in touch and now I depend a lot on my children and they’re wonderful.”

For a recent SA Living Artists (SALA) Festival workshop at Carmelite family of residents were invited to come along and join in.

Dorothea usually doesn’t attend art workshops as she has “always been into sport not art”, but the visit from her grandchild and great grandchild at this particular workshop made her day.

“We had a lovely afternoon - I don’t like doing artwork but I did that day, it was lovely,” she said.

The whole family has strong values of love and kindness, which Dorothea has passed down to all the generations after sharing a very close relationship with her own mother.

Although Dorothea’s mother passed away early in her life, there is one piece of advice she gave Dorothea that has never been forgotten.

“Always tell the truth, I remember that because anyone who tells a fib has to be very clever to remember who they’ve lied to,” Dorothea said.

“And that is true so I’ve carried that through.”

She also inherited cooking skills from her mother, a love of playing tennis, and a dedication to charity work.

“My mother did a lot, and I did a lot with the Red Cross and Mothers and Babies,” Dorothea said.

As she looks back on nearly a century of life, Dorothea continues to share these lessons of honesty and kindness with her own children and grandchildren, ensuring her mother’s spirit remains a guiding light for the generations to follow.