The Woodlake Aged Care resident’s 100th birthday was celebrated with a morning tea at the Kingsley facility last Friday and with the Girrawheen Koondoola Senior Citizens Club on Tuesday. On Sunday, a party was held with 38 of his family and friends.
He thanked his family for arranging the event, and said he enjoyed the celebration while remembering those no longer with them, including his “darling” wife Hazel.
Mr Smallacombe, who has four grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, said his beloved pastime of catching a cab to spend Saturdays having a bet at the TAB was what kept him young.
He was born in Melbourne in 1915, married Hazel in 1941 and moved to Perth in 1959, settling in Sorrento in 1974.
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READ NOWThey had two daughters together, Jan Antoine and Margaret Maris, and they had been married for 63 years when she passed away in 2004.
“(His birthday) was so successful… it was better than what I even dreamt. It was just great,” Mrs Antoine said.
He is a life member of the Girrawheen Koondoola Senior Citizens Club and was captain of the games room for 25 years.