Tuesday 29 November was a special day at Huis Luckhoff, a home for the aged located in Rosebank.
On this date, one of their residents, Yvonne Misplon, turned 99-years- old.
Although Misplon spent her birthday with six of her closest friends and family at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, People’s Post caught up with the almost-centenarian the next day during a special cake-and-coffee celebration held in the frail-care department’s sunroom.
People’s Post found the kind and charming woman to be exactly like the words she used to describe having reached 99 years of age – simply marvellous.
Misplon was born in Mouille Point in 1923 and started school at Ellerton School in Sea Point.
The bright young woman would go on to matriculate from Ellerslie High, also in Sea Point, at age 15.
After getting married at 20, she moved all over the country – Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Queenstown, Sea Point – before settling in Bergvliet some years later.
She moved to Huis Luckhoff just over a year ago, where, she says, she was met with so much friendliness.
“Everyone is my friend,” she says.
Contemplating the many changes there have been over the years, she says what amazes her most is modern technology.
As an example, she points to smartphones.
“The camera on the phone and you can take all sorts of pictures, you don’t even have to point it at the person. A guy took a picture of me yesterday and he wasn’t even looking at me but at his screen – modern technology is beyond description, it is most wonderful.”
Her first brush with “technology” was taking trips in her grandfather’s Chrysler when she was a child.
“We toured all over. We had an uncle who was a chemist in Caledon, so we used to go over to see him and we toured every weekend. My grandfather would take us out in the car and one dreadful day he went over the edge of a deep donga. You can imagine the panic, everybody was shouting.”
When it comes to South Africa’s history, she says what stands out most for her was the release of Nelson Mandela from prison on 11 February 1990. She describes Mandela’s release as “the great awakening” which brought an end to the violence that earmarked the apartheid system.
On a personal level, her favourite memories are of the month that she spent travelling across South America in 1965.
“I worked for Union-Castle (a British shipping line) and I worked for so many years that they gave me a free trip to South America – I can’t tell you how marvellous that was. We went to three countries – Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.”
She says she will never forget seeing Christ the Redeemer, a colossal statue of Jesus Christ at the summit of Mount Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro.
“It was wonderful. I just associated it with Camps Bay and its Twelve Apostles (the twelve peaks that form the back of the Table Mountain range). It just all felt so connected. There is still a yacht race every year from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro.”
Travelling forward in time and asking her to consider today’s generation compared to her own, Misplon says that the older generation has ceded them more freedom.
“Freedom of speech and behaviour. It was quite different a long time ago. We got married young. I must have been 20 when I got married. My grandmother was married at 17 and she had 15 children – my mother was the tenth one, her name was Decima, which is Latin for 10.”
Asked about her children and grandchildren, Misplon shares that she lost a baby daughter because she suffered from preeclampsia but her son, John Rayner (74), is still with her.
Her grandchildren are Paul (40), a film maker living with his partner in Queenstown in New Zealand and Jessica (36), a co-owner with her partner in a few Crossfit gym.
John and Jessica both shared in the special outing to Kirstenbosch on their mom and grandmom’s birthday.
John, who affectionately refers to Yvonne as Ma, says it is a blessing to still have her with them.
“We have always been very close. I must have been about 22, 23 when I moved out – and just having somebody to rely on, who is part of your history, still around… She is the closest link to my heritage,” he says.
Asked to share a few memories of his “Ma”, John says she made all her own clothes.
“Skirts, blouses, dresses, you name it. I remember how she had patterns spread out all over the floor, measuring material.”
He says she is also an avid reader and a hands-on gardener.
“Under her green fingers, everything flourishes. She wanders Huis Luckhoff grounds – much to the horror of the staff as she really needs assistance in case of an accident – every so often picking flowers for her room.”
Before coming to Huis Luckhoff, Yvonne belonged to a knitting circle at her local church – knitting for the needy.
“She still knits beanies and small jerseys, which I will be forwarding to the Circle,” he says.
A memory that holds special meaning for both of them also happened during the festive season, although this was many moons ago.
John says, when he was about nine, he remembers him and his mom, walking up Signal Hill to go and fetch a pine tree.
Taking over the story, Misplon says, that it happened every year, that the City Council men would cut down trees and leave them there for residents to come and collect.
Not having a car, she and John decided to make the trip on foot.
“It was a stupid thing to do, thinking back on it, but it was essential because I had to have a Christmas tree for the child.”
As they started walking down, carrying the tree between the two of them, the City Councilmen ran after them and asked them where they lived.
“They said they would bring the tree to us when they knocked off, which they duly did. When we put it up in our house, it reached the top of the ceiling. It was a huge tree, a lovely tree. I chose the best one, of course,” says Yvonne.
