‘Wonderful’ Eileen celebrates 106 years
WITH her celebration of 106 years on the clock, it’s fair to say that Mercy Place Woree resident Eileen Tayler is an old hand at birthdays.
The centenarian celebrated her momentous birthday on Friday, accompanied by family and friends who say she still has a great sense of humour and a wonderful heart.
Mrs Tayler puts her longevity down to hard work and good, old fashioned, plain food.
She was born and bred in Queensland, having entered the world in the gold mining town of Georgetown in the Shire of Etheridge.
She was the first daughter born to her parents, Patrick and Melvina Tierney, and was the third child of eight – four boys and four girls.
Having moved to Danbulla with her family, Mrs Tayler grew up on the family farm during the Great Depression, where she recalls being fortunate to have plenty of milk, cream, eggs and butter, which she continued to enjoy throughout her life.
She did not begin school until she was 11 because until 1925 there wasn’t a teacher at Danbulla’s Lake Euromo school.
Despite attending school for only four years, she became a talented seamstress and was known for her beautiful clothes, especially her wedding gowns.
She made her own wedding dress after meeting her husband-to-be, Andy, at a dance in Danbulla, marrying him a couple of years later in Atherton on July 3, 1941.
Daughter Kathryn McDonnell says she still finds it hard to believe that her parents met at a dance, given her father was renowned for having “two left feet”.
“He showed no interest in dancing … so I guess he must have been smitten with mum,” she said. “I do know that he used to ride his pushbike from Tolga to Danbulla to court her. That was a decent ride as then, of course, there were no mountain or geared bikes. But … his persistence … paid off.”
Mr Tayler went off to war and happily returned once WWII ended. The couple also became parents to three children during the 1940s.
Finding it hard to settle after his time in the army, he relocated the family several times, to Herberton, then to Mt Molloy and on to Kennedy, before they settled in Cairns, in March, 1950. Today Mrs Tayler is the matriarch of the family – three children, seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and two great-greatgrandchildren, many of whom live in Cairns. Charlene Reyes of Mercy Place says Mrs Tayler is an inspiring lady.