Pat’s lived 101 years to the fullest
PAT Chilton loves going to church, having her hair done and listening to audio books. But she especially loves visits from her children.
So she was in for a treat on her 101st birthday recently when Australian actor and scriptwriter Shane Porteous visited his mother at Mercy Place Westcourt in Cairns.
Porteous is best known for playing the loveable Dr Terence Elliot on A Country Practice and Jim Tyler in Home and Away. He won the Most Outstanding Actor Logie in 1990.
Pat was born Yvonne Jean Hanlow on March 13, 1917, in Hamilton, Victoria, and grew up in nearby Coleraine. The eldest of four children, she was due on St Patrick’s Day (March 17) and despite her early arrival, the name stuck.
An expert rider, she and her brothers regularly competed in equestrian events.
An academic high flyer and keen sportswoman, Pat won scholarships to help pay her boarding school fees during the Great Depression at Queen’s Church of England Grammar in Ballarat.
She went on to train as a nurse, theatre nurse and worked as an industrial nurse and store nurse at Myer.
Pat married Stanley John Porteous in Coleraine in 1941 after the outbreak of WWII and Shane was born the following year. When Stanley went to war, Pat lived with friends in Melbourne.
Tragedy struck on August 17, 1943, when Stanley was killed in a Catalina crash off Bowen with 12 others. A week later, her brother was killed in New Guinea.
Pat returned to Coleraine to be with family and rebuild her life, taking a job as a school nurse and boarding mistress at her old school in Ballarat.
It was ideal as she could take Shane with her.
She met air force squadron leader Bob Chilton through friends and they married on March 7, 1947. Shane very quickly saw Bob as his dad and liked to tell people he went to his mum and dad’s wedding.
The family moved to Sydney and later Stanthorpe in Queensland, where Bob bought a pharmacy.
Daughter Diana was born in 1948 and son Peter in 1950.
Peter suffered a terrible accident to his right hand and arm, requiring lengthy visits to Sydney and operations over a number of years.
Pat never got over the injury to her youngest child.
She lost Bob to cancer and found love a third time with New Zealander Peter Buddle.
They shared many adventures before Peter developed dementia and they moved to Cairns to be near Diana.
Pat gardened until well into her 90s, always has a smile on her face and loves a good party.
She continues to go to the Anglican service every fortnight and enjoys visits from her friend, Brandi, who does her hair. No longer able to read and write, she now enjoys audio books and poetry.