Happy 100th birthday for Table View’s Benjamina
Benjamina Olivier is celebrating her 100th birthday today with her family and friends at her home in Table View.
Ms Olivier was born on September 21, 1922.
“Hello there,” she says in a gentle voice and a bright smile as one enters the front door.
The only grey hair that can be seen is down her middle parting; the rest is chestnut brown.
Her secret to longevity, she says, is having faith in God, eating healthy and playing tennis with her late husband by her side.
Ms Olivier is originally from the Free State and has been living in Table View with her daughter, Joey Wasiliew, for the past six years.
Ms Wasiliew says it is a pleasure caring for her mother, whom she praises for doing a good job raising her and her three other siblings.
Her mother married at 17 and was a housewife all these years.
“My mother is a strong woman and was always working hard at giving us the best,” she says.
Ms Olivier has eight grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
In her younger years, Ms Olivier played tennis and was always involved in the church, but now she enjoys reading her Bible daily and sitting in front of the TV.
This birthday, just like the others, she will be spending with her loved ones, because it’s her favourite thing to do, she says.
