Glenelg’s Easter surprise, Caryl Coleman lives to put a smile on people’s faces

Clad in bright, whimsical costumes, 87-year-old Caryl Coleman lives to make people laugh and smile.

For 87-year-old Caryl Coleman, making others laugh and smile is in her Irish-born blood.

“I think as a nation, the Irish really are fun,” says the self-proclaimed larrikin, who was born in Dublin and migrated to Adelaide with her husband, Ray, in her 20s.

“It doesn’t matter what’s going on in their lives, they’ll find a funny way of dealing with it. “Some people say we come out of the womb laughing.

“We love laughing and making everyone else laugh, too.”

Caryl Coleman at Massey’s Cafe in Glenelg. Picture: Emma Brasier

It’s that desire to put a smile on the faces of strangers that has seen Mrs Coleman don an Easter hat piled high with flowers, carrots, eggs and even a fluffy bunny to share a little bit of holiday love in Glenelg this week.

Teaming her bright and colourful headwear with a pink bow tie and a purple flower on her waistcoat, the octogenarian was flooded with requests to stop for photos.

“It’s something I love doing,” says Ms Coleman, whose daughter Tracy Coleman, a theatre wardrobe specialist currently working with Sister Act in Adelaide, created the spectacular top hat.

Caryl Coleman lives to put a smile on people’s faces Picture: Emma Brasier

“Because of my own lifelong involvement with theatre, I’m obviously not shy. It makes me feel good because people look at me and they smile. And you know, it does, it makes people smile. And people stop me and say ‘could I have a photograph with you?’.

“My face hurts at the end of the day from smiling. It was such fun – but very tiring because the hat was very heavy – the things you do for your art.”

Mrs Coleman is a regular sight along the main drag in Glenelg, where she lives. Last month, she sprinkled a bit of Irish magic as a leprechaun for St Patrick’s Day – “the part was made for me, I’m the right height,” she laughs.

Caryl Coleman dressed up in her easter outfit. Picture: Emma Brasier

Caryl Coleman dresses up for St Patrick's Day last month. Picture: Facebook

And as a volunteer in aged-care homes for many years, she often dressed up to entertain the folks.

Mrs Coleman also made a career out of entertaining others, managing a city theatre for her great friend and former New Faces TV star John Edmund, who she met in the 1960s.

She is also friends with theatre producers Linda Bewick and Louise Withers and, together with her husband, Ray, acted as chaperons for the cast of child actors in their Australian production of the musical Billy Elliot.

Six years after losing Ray, she is now facing her own mortality after being diagnosed five years ago with a rare, degenerative neurological disorder.

She says keeping happy and positive has helped her deal with corticobasal syndrome, which causes areas of the brain to shrink and eventually affects limbs, language and cognition.

“I should be gone, I shouldn’t be here to wear a bloody hat in Jetty Rd,” she laughs. Picture: Emma Brasier

She also credits her twice-weekly sessions with her personal trainer at the local gym, where she lifts a gruelling 40kg in weights.

“I should be gone, I shouldn’t be here to wear a bloody hat in Jetty Rd,” she laughs.

“When the neurosurgeon in town told me what the disease was, I just looked at him and said ‘right, so what does that necessitate? Small operation and Panadol four times a day?’ I don’t even take death seriously.

“And he said ‘I’m sorry, Mrs Coleman, there’s no cure’. He said ‘keep moving, it’s the only way you’re going to get the brain to give you extra time’. And I’ve been moving ever since.

Moving and smiling and laughing.”