Dorothy Yeoman celebrates 103rd birthday with her very first helicopter joy ride
DOROTHY Yeoman felt like a celebrity being whisked from her Springwood home to Rosehill heliport to celebrate her 103rd birthday. It’s the first time she’s been in a helicopter.
Parramatta
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DOROTHY Yeoman felt like a celebrity being whisked from her Springwood home to Rosehill heliport to celebrate her 103rd birthday.
It was the first time the centenarian flew in a helicopter. She said it was an amazing experience she wished she had done sooner.
It makes her the oldest passenger to fly with Sydney Helicopters having previously flown a 102-year-old woman last year.
The flight gave her a bird’s eye view of some of Australia’s icons like the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
“I’m glad I’ve done that … it was amazing. Really, really wonderful. Seeing all these little houses and all those little motor cars,” she said.
She won’t stop there, already planning next year’s birthday celebrations — swimming with sharks.
“Next year is swimming with the sharks,” she laughed. “I doubt it but it’s a fantasy.”
Celebrations started last Thursday on her actual birthday (May 24) with a dinner and progressed to Sunday afternoon birthday celebrations with 30 family and friends up in the mountains.
The helicopter flight on Tuesday morning rounded out the celebrations. She came down from the mountains with a swag of her friends from Uniting Springwood, where she lives.
Her friends were happy to be waving her off on the 20-minute joy flight.
“I’m glad it’s Dorothy and not me. I might consider a helicopter flight on my 102nd birthday,” one woman said.
Before the flight Ms Yeoman was anxious and asked for some water to wet her whistle. She said a glass of wine would have been a better option though.
She said she felt like royalty being lifted into the helicopter then waving her friends off with her hanky in her hand.
The centenarian spent a short time living in Newtown as a baby until her father died in World War I. Her and brother Jim went to live in Ryde with their grandmother. After school she became a machinist, making uniforms for those in the war.
She’s married twice; Clarence in her 20s and “Big Bill”, who played for St George, after losing her first love.
She’d watch him play every Saturday, eating sandwiches on the grass. The beach is one of her favourite spots and, after World War II, they lived in repatriation housing in Harbord.
If she could, she would love to be at the beach in the sun. Instead, she’s happy sitting in the sunshine with a good book despite reading being a challenge due to her diminished vision.
She’s unable to see from her left eye and “everything’s a bit hazy” in her right but she said that doesn’t stop her.
