Yanchep’s George Schrader milks the attention on his 100th birthday

YANCHEP’S George Schrader will be milking the attention as he celebrates his 100th birthday today.

Family and his peers will join George at a lunch at his aged care home, Bethanie Beachside this afternoon.

Born and raised in Perth’s northern suburbs, Mr Schrader began working for Brownes Dairy when “he was only a kid”.

He remembers milking 98 cows twice a day, piling the milk on the back of his ute and driving to the Brownes North Perth depot.

In the 1940s, Mr Schrader was one of the first people to pasteurize Brownes Milk.

Outside of work, he loved being outdoors – while he didn’t play any formal sports, he enjoyed weekend cricket games with the local boys.

Mr Schrader was married for almost 70 years to Thelma before she passed away, and said she was a talented artist who was awarded the Order of Australia for her work.

“There wasn’t anything Thelma couldn’t paint, sculpture or draw,” he said.

The couple had two sons – Robert (Bob) who lives in Sorrento and Darren who lives in Queensland.

Both sons are married, although the centenarian is unable to count exactly how many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren he has.

He estimates the total is about 19, claiming he has “plenty of little buggers”.