The queen of The Pines Health & Fitness Centre is a caring soul

At 104 years old, Vera Pearce is known as ‘the Queen of The Pines Health & Fitness Centre’. She is still living independently and exercising regularly with the help of Southern Cross Care. 

Vera started attending the Centre in 2016 for rehabilitation after having a fall. 

Vera jokingly says her secret to a long life is to “stay away from doctors” but it’s fairly obvious from her experience that staying active and socialising play an important role too. 

Born in the Adelaide suburb of Mile End in 1920, Vera had two older brothers and was the only one of her siblings born in Australia.

Her father had asthma, so before she was born the family decided to move from Invercargill in New Zealand to a warmer climate.

The initial goal was to move to Western Australia where Vera’s uncles lived, but their funds only stretched as far as the journey to South Australia. 

Vera’s first job was at Woolworths, and then during World War II she took up a position at a package factory where her father worked. 

She met her husband while dancing and during the war they saved up their coupons to pay for the wedding. 

Vera’s husband served as an aircraft mechanic from 1939 to 1945, but that didn’t stop the couple from not only getting married but also having their two children in 1944 and 1946, and saving to buy a block of land! 

Their family home was built on the block at Glandore after he returned from service. 

An active family, Vera and her husband enjoyed rollerskating together and the children played sports, then later in life Vera took up yoga for a few decades and attended fitness classes from her 70s onwards. 

The biggest constant in her life though has been her love of playing cards. 

She began playing Bridge as a teenager, as she learned from her mother, and continued to play regularly until she turned 100 years old. 

At the age of 99, Vera passed her driving test, although her daughter Laraine said she “gave the man a hard time”, but she decided to stop driving when she became a centenarian. 

Family has always been important to Vera too, and her caring nature has been obvious while she looked after her parents, friends and neighbours over the years. 

As Laraine said, Vera was “always looking after someone”. Vera lived in her family home for 75 years, until it was acquired for the South Road project - a huge loss for the whole family, including her two children, four grandchildren, eight great grandchildren and 11 great great grandchildren. 

At 101 years old she moved in with her daughter and now accepts some care herself. 

Exercise is still important and Vera looks forward to the social side of classes at The Pines as well, giving everyone a queenly wave when she visits. 

To read about more of the celebrated centenarians in the Southern Cross Care Community, click here.