Family gathers for 100th birthday
Several generations of the Hayes family and friends gathered on Friday to celebrate matriarch Lou Hayes’ 100th birthday this weekend.
A birthday tea was hosted at Lily Kirchmann Home Frailcare, where great-grandmother Hayes has lived since 2010.
The tea was attended by 50 people, all in high spirits. A string quartet and a nurses’ choir provided the music.
Hayes was born in 1918 In Porterville, Western Cape. She continued to reside in the province until she graduated with honours in music from Stellenbosch University.
On a holiday visit to Katberg with a group of friends she met and later married Whittlesea livestock farmer Ladson Hayes.
She moved onto his farm and began to garden and raise chickens. They had two children, Celia and Greg, who had a combined four children, and there are now three great-grandchildren.
Greg said his mother’s love of “a glass of good white wine” suggested that wine enjoyed in moderation was good for one’s health.
He also recounted how his mother used to be a three-a-day smoker and loved to play classical music.
He thanked Lily Kirchmann centre for the manner in which they had looked after his mother, saying that despite negative press, the institution had treated his mother with nothing but respect.
Celia described her mother as very disciplined, a lover of tennis a very good cook and gardener.
Sister Carroll Adams, nursing services manager at Lily Kirchmann, said that Hayes was a “lovely lady” of “capital health” who would always dress to impress.
The Hayes family will be taking her to Kleinemonde for the weekend to see the beach and enjoy her birthday with family.
His mother’s love of “a glass of good white wine” suggested that wine enjoyed in moderation was good for one’s health