A blooming marvellous 100th birthday affair
Mackay identity says she was ‘blooming’ as friends and family came to wish her a happy birthday
Mackay
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ALMIRA Argent was “blooming” as her friends and family wished her a happy 100th birthday at a small party today.
She had woken up near midnight in anticipation of the day, she said.
“I wondered what the time was and I thought to myself, ‘Have I made it?’”
Mrs Argent marvelled over the festivities, which included a golf buggy tour around Breezes retirement village with manager Brad Witt, and was almost lost for words.
“What have I done to deserve all these lovely things, thoughts and flowers?” she said.
But her family of seven grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren and four great-great grandchildren are a testament to the love she has shared and given to others.
“She is an inspiration to us all and dearly loved by everyone,” her granddaughter Melissa Doyle said.
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Ms Argent was born on the family farm at Pinnacle on May 31, 1920.
“Because I came early, my mother didn’t make it to hospital,” she said.
“I was born on the farm and all the farmers’ wives helped with the birth”.
At 20, she met her lifetime love, Gordon Argent.
“I met him at a (wood) chopping show and it was love at first sight,” she said.
He passed away in 2004.
“He would not believe it if he saw this (party),” Mrs Argent said.
“I know he’s watching.
“He was a marvellous man and he encouraged me to do a lot of things that I couldn’t to before”.
Together they ran a dairy farm but Mrs Argent’s true passion was her horses, and she competed and travelled throughout Queensland with hacks and ponies.
“She was well known in the horse world … (and) was one of the founding members of the Mackay Pony Club,” Ms Doyle said.
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Mrs Argent even met Princess Anne in the 1970s while watching the Princess train her horse in England.
She said the Princess looked her way, asking if she could hear someone Australian.
“I (answered), ‘Yes, all the way from Mackay.”
As to her advice for living a full life, Ms Argent said it was all about loving and helping others.
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