A South Australian great-grandmother who’s believed to be Australia’s oldest living person has shared her secrets to a protracted, glad life ahead of her 111th birthday this week.
Catherina van der Linden, who lives in Southern Cross Care’s West Beach Residential Care in Adelaide, will reach the incredible milestone on Saturday, August 26.
Last 12 months, on her a hundred and tenth birthday, the van der Linden family received an email that their matriarch was Australia’s newest, oldest living person after the death of the former titleholder 110 year-old Frank Mawer.
Ahead of her 111th birthday celebrations this weekend, Mrs. van der Linden has shared the key to her longevity is keeping energetic, which she does by participating in gym sessions and long walks – much to the amazement of staff on the residential care home.
“I push myself sometimes after I’m getting a bit drained and I feel it’s about time to do something to yourself to see that you simply still have that energy that you simply had before,” Mrs. van der Linden said, The Advertiser reports.
“I still go on the bike, sometimes for 10 minutes and that may be a very long time to spend on the bike.”
West Beach Residential Care manager Catherine Willoughby said Mrs. van der Linden was an “amazing” model of healthy aging and had actually inspired some residents at the house to follow her routine.
“Catherina is an inspiration to all of us, she’s still doing regular walks around the ability … we’ve actually got a few other recent residents which have began doing the identical routine,” Willoughby said.
“She loves the gym, she goes to the gym two or thrice every week.”
“I feel it’s amazing that she’s 111 and the undeniable fact that she’s still so mobile and still very much alert and oriented to what’s happening round her.”
Mrs. van der Linden was born in 1912 within the Netherlands and can be believed to be the oldest-known Dutch person on the planet.
She migrated to Australia together with her husband and young family in 1955, and held various jobs throughout her life, including working as a grape picker, nursing assistant and typist, and clerical assistant.
She has 4 children, 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grand children.
Mrs. van der Linden’s oldest daughter Mariella Hocking said living past 100 was not entirely unusual within the family, but her mother was a standout in her immediate family.
“Mom had one aunt who also lived to 110 but all her brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, all lived only to their 60s and early 70s, so there’s a freaky gene there somewhere within the family I feel,” Hocking said.
Since retiring, Mrs. van der Linden says she likes to spend time with family over a “easy meal” and socialize with friends.
In addition to keeping energetic, she said the opposite key to a protracted life was to “be glad with yourself and be content with what life gives you.”
“Sometimes it’s not excellent and sometimes it’s higher but you could have to take the bad with the great as well and it’s possible to make living a joy,” she said.
And, she added, “keep moving, don’t sit still.”
