A 104-year-old woman has said “I’ve done nothing exceptional, I’ve just sort of plodded along”. Doris Smith celebrated her 104th birthday at Saffron’s Care Home in Eastbourne. The celebration was attended by local nursery children who presented a handmade card to Doris, who is a century older than them.
Doris moved into Saffrons when she was 103 but prior to that had lived independently, with some help with shopping and gardening from friends and neighbours. She has lived in Sussex for more than 40 years. She was born on October 23, 1920, just two years after the end of the First World War.
She was raised in Kent with her three brothers and a sister. Doris was 19 when the Second World War broke out and the family farm in Strood, near Rochester, was an important asset providing fruit and vegetables, both locally and to London. Doris recalls that from a young age, she took a keen interest in her father’s business accounts, helping him count the money.
She went on to become a postmistress and later did accounts for a company near Gatwick that made aircraft parts. Doris as a child with her younger sister Mary (Image: Submitted) Doris, who is Catholic, went on to support a priest in his work with the church. They built a “wonderful friendship” and he lived with her after he retired for 30 years.
She cared for him until his death in 2017. Although Doris never married or had children, she has five nephews and nieces, nine great-nephews and nieces, 16 great-great neph.