Over the years, Enid McFarlane has lived in many areas around town but for close to 15 years now, Pakenham’s Evergreen Retirement Village has been the place she calls home. One of the village’s original residents, Enid is well known for her smile and optimistic nature – always brightening the day of those around her. With her 90th birthday just around the corner, Enid took a moment to reflect on her life, sharing a few pearls of wisdom with GABRIELLA PAYNE.
Nestled in the heart of Pakenham lies the Evergreen Retirement Village, a little haven tucked away off bustling McGregor Road.
For almost 15 years now, the village has been a safe and welcoming space for some of our community’s senior residents – and Enid McFarlane, a household name at Evergreen, has been there since the very beginning.
Enid is the self-proclaimed “matriarch” of Evergreen, and with her bubbly yet poised personality, it’s clear to see why.
With a twinkle in her eye and a lilt in her voice, Enid’s vivacious and positive nature rubs off on those around her, bringing a special spark to the Evergreen community.
“She’s amazing – you never see her without a smile on her face,” Annie Roberts, one of the Evergreen Retirement Village managers, said.
Sharyn Allsop, Ms Roberts’ co-manager agreed.
“She’s not got a bad word to say about anybody,” Ms Allsop said.
“She’s just always smiling, happy, cuddly…”
“…and we love her to bits,” Ms Roberts added.
Dressed in an elegant blazer and sitting in her armchair, Enid smiled as she took a moment to reflect on the ups and downs of her life and her upcoming milestone birthday.
“Well, I was born in 1931 and I had one sister,” Enid said.
“My mother died when I was four and my sister was three, and my father remarried and I got a wicked step-mother.
“So my nanna then took me and my sister away from my Dad for neglect, and so my grandparents raised us,” she said.
Enid fondly remembers her childhood, growing up with her grandparents in a “railway house” in Coburg, in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
“My grandmother used to swing the gates at Bell Street in Coburg, and my grandfather used to walk the line from Coburg to Fawkner, just going along, looking at the line and tapping it,” she said.
Growing up without a mother and father wasn’t hard, as Enid said her and her sister Valerie loved being with and learning from their grandparents and “never missed out” on anything.
As we chat about her life’s accomplishments, the memories come and go for Enid as for the last few years, she has been suffering from worsening dementia.
While older memories have stuck with her, new memories and specific details fade in and out of Enid’s recollection.
“The dementia is getting her more and more, so I’ve sort of stayed and I’m permanently here looking after her,” Enid’s eldest daughter, Valerie (Val) Hawkins, said.
“As you can see she’s doing well, but it’s just some of the day to day stuff that she needs a hand with.”
With Val’s help, Enid reminisced about her wedding day in 1955.
“Mum met Dad in Brunswick, and they used to go for dances at the Brunswick Town Hall,” Val said.
“They married in 1955, moved to Bendigo and Mum had four children, two girls and two boys, and then we moved back to Spotswood.”
Enid named her eldest daughter Val after her sister Valerie, who sadly passed away at a young age from pneumonia, just a few weeks after her own marriage.
“When my sister married, she was only married a few weeks and then she got pneumonia and died, so I was the only one left,” Enid remembered.
“But I named my first born after her, so I’ve still got her.”
Like her grandparents, Enid’s husband Jack McFarlane worked in the railways, and when they moved to Spotswood to raise their young family, he used to “just walk out the back gate and into his office,” Enid recalled.
Val described her Mum as a bit of a “homebody” who was “always there” for her four kids.
Once her two daughters had left the nest, Enid got a part time job in the local TAB which she just “loved”, according to Val.
When Jack retired, the married pair moved to Pakenham where they bought a house on Anne Crescent and had plans to move to Kooweerup.
But before they made the move, Jack and Enid had a change of plans, deciding instead to buy the first unit in the new Evergreen Retirement Village almost 15 years ago, after Jack found he could no longer tend to his veggie garden.
Over the years, Enid and Jack shared many happy memories together, playing lawn bowls all around Australia and holidaying with their family by the beach in Port Fairy.
Enid and Jack lived together at Evergreen for a number of years, before Jack sadly passed away nine years ago.
“They were married for 57 years all together,” Val said, adding that she thought her Dad’s passing had “brought on the dementia a bit faster” for her mother.
Despite it being hard to adjust after such a long time together, Enid had her Evergreen family around her after Jack passed, who provided her with support and compassion through the difficult time.
“It’s a magnificent village, I would not have one thing to say against it,” Enid said.
“I get a lot of fun out of being the matriarch here,” she added, with a cheeky smile.
With her 90th birthday coming up on Tuesday 11 May, Enid said she was excited to celebrate the milestone occasion with her family and a few friends.
“I’m reaching for the 9-0, but nothing better happen before then!” Enid said with a laugh.
“Once I get through that, I don’t care what happens.”
Ms Roberts said that the team at Evergreen were looking forward to making a small fuss over Enid for her birthday.
“We can’t believe she’s 90, because she doesn’t look it and she definitely doesn’t act it!” she said.
“If I look like that at 90, I’ll be happy!”
Val said that Enid’s family, her four children, ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, were excited to celebrate with a few festivities, but were planning to “do it in stages” as it could be overwhelming with Enid’s dementia.
“With the dementia, it’s just too overwhelming with a lot of people,” Val said.
“So we’re going to have a morning tea on Tuesday 11 May with the ladies and the villagers here, and then we’ll just have a family party here on Saturday 15 May,” she said.
Val said that her mother had “been the best Mum” her and her siblings could have asked for and throughout “all the hardships she’s had in her life, she’s always had a smile and always been happy” – something her family admired in her.
Enid said that she had had “a lovely life” over her almost 90 years and if there was any advice that she could share with people, it would be to “love your families”.
“And that old saying – always look on the bright side of life,” she said, her face beaming.
“There’s always something good that comes up.”
