Surrounded by family and friends, Bowral House resident Joyce Tomkinson celebrated her 100th birthday.
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Born to Percival Joseph Harry Haines and Alice Isabel Haines in Gillingham-Kent in England on November 18, 1919 Joyce Tomkinson nee Haines has lived an extraordinary life in three separate countries.
A mother of two to Jackie and Carol (deceased), a grandmother of one to Sharmaine and a great grandmother of two to Jessica and Daniel, Joyce has always made the best of what life has thrown at her with a wonderful sense of humour.
For most of Joyce's life she has been a homemaker and a mother who has occasionally provided child care for other people.
Joyce has a love of flowers and enjoyed gardening until a few years ago. She also enjoyed knitting incredible sweaters and many colourful clowns, two of which she has in her room, needle point and reading a good mystery or historical novel. Always ready for a good dance, Joyce enjoyed dancing with her late husband John.
When asked what her secret to a long life was, Joyce was humble in her response.
"I don't know," she said.
Her daughter Jackie believes that her mother's secret to a long life was her "incredible sense of humor, wit and charm."
Life wasn't always easy for Joyce. Growing up, her father wasn't often in the picture.
In World War II, Joyce worked in a number of factories before she met and married her first husband Raymond Jack Ashby, a Canadian soldier.
Pregnant with her first child, Joyce made a courageous decision to sail to Canada alone after the war to follow her husband Jack who was sent back with his troop.
It was in Oshawa Ontario Canada that Joyce gave birth to her first born daughter Jacqueline, also known as Jackie, on November 2, 1945.
Life with her first husband was difficult and Joyce made the heartbreaking decision to leave the family when Jackie was four years old and was unable to take her daughter with her.
It was in England that Joyce met and married her second husband John Tomkinson after she divorced her first husband. Together they had one daughter, Carol, who passed away from ovarian cancer more than 20 years ago. In 1961 Joyce, John, Alice and Carol immigrated to Australia and became Australian citizens in 1984.
Determined to find the daughter she left behind, Joyce eventually made contact with her former brother-in-law James Ashby in the early 1990s.
Through a series of phone calls, letters and photographs - mother and daughter were able to renew their relationship. It was in 1992 that Joyce went back to Canada to meet her daughter for the first time in 47 years. Her daughter has visited Australia regularly every three years to visit her mother.
"Joyce is a very resilient woman who can make the best of what life throws her way with a wonderful sense of humour. She's always ready with a smile to help a stranger who becomes a friend and has always been able to turn a phrase or a spray of delightful wit at a moments notice," said her daughter Jackie.