How did I live to 109? By staying away from men!
‘More trouble than they’re worth’
IT’S the sort of advice which will find favour with around half of the population.
Jessie Gallan has lived through both World Wars, the discovery of penicillin, l anding the first man on the moon and, more recently, an independence referendum.
And now, the oldest woman in Scotland has revealed her secret to a long life – staying away from men.
She was celebrating her 109th birthday almost two weeks ago when she gave out the advice.
Miss Gallan, from Aberdeen, marked the occasion with a big lunch and slice of cake.
She said: ‘My secret to a long life has been staying away from men. They’re just more trouble than they’re worth.’
The sprightly spinster was born in a tiny two-room cottage on a farm in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, in 1906.
She had a simple upbringing, with five sisters and one brother who slept top-to-tail every night on a straw-filled mattress.
Miss Gallan said: ‘I never worried about anything. We never had any money but we were all very happy.’
The pensioner, who now lives at Crosby House care home in Aberdeen, said: ‘I also made sure that I got plenty of exercise, eat a nice warm bowl of porridge every morning and have never gotten married.
‘I always worked hard and seldom would I ever take a holiday. I left home when I was 13 and began a job milking cows.
‘I always had good jobs with very nice people. My last job was as a waitress, working in Ballater.’
Her hard work ethic took her away from Aberdeenshire to work in hotels and townhouses in the North-east of Scotland.
Beginning with a j ob in a farm kitchen, she then went on to become a housemaid at the home of a wealthy businessman in Aberdeen’s Gray Street.
From there, she managed to secure a job at the Lauriston Hotel in Ballater, Royal Deeside, where the arrival of Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother was the highlight of the season.
She was born just one month before the Royal Navy launched the first Dreadnought battleship – the most advanced warship of its time.
Over the decades she has seen how advances in technology have transformed day-to-day life to the point where you can watch films on mobile phones and transfer money with a swipe of a screen.
She said: ‘It’s amazing to see how completely different the world is now from the one I grew up in.’
Miss Gallan is a popular presence at the care home in Aberdeen, where she sits each day and chats with her best friend and fellow resident Sarah- Jane Main.
Rebecca Streeter, a senior support worker at the care home, said: ‘Jessie still takes part in the group activities, she likes her exercise.
‘She goes to all the concerts and enjoys her church on a Sunday. And obviously she has led a very healthy lifestyle.’
Today, the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeen City Council – the Queen’s representative in the area – will visit Miss Gallan to pass on his best wishes.
She became Scotland’s oldest woman following the death of Clare Dawson, of Glasgow, in June 2013 at the age of 109.
The great- grandmother died just weeks after undergoing an operation to be fitted with a heart pacemaker.