Kindness holds the key

Dorothy cuts her cake with daughter Jan.

Bolton Clarke Cazna Gardens’ newest centenarian says kindness is the key to a long life.

Dorothy Saunders was born on 22 September in 1922 and has spent a lifetime dedicated to helping others.

Her simple philosophy? “People have just got to be kind to one another.”

“Mum has always been such a kind person,” daughter Jan said.

“We had quite a hard life but she went out and did what she could to have a little extra money, like clean houses and do ironing.”

Dorothy grew up in the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland and came to Brisbane to join the war effort in the early 1940s.

“She got trained up to fix planes and that’s where she met Dad, who was in the Navy,” Jan said.

The pair married in 1943, shortly before Dorothy’s 21st birthday, in a union that was to last 65 years.

Dorothy now has four grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren as well as a few great, great grandchildren who all adore her.

“She is 100 but she is still always thinking about others!” Jan said.

She celebrated her 100th birthday with family and friends from the Cazna Gardens community over the weekend.