Meet the locals: Celebrating Daphne Meyers and International Day of Older People

Daphne Meyer fidgets in her chair, the wood creaking beneath her small frame.

"When I get nervous I twist my legs," the 103-year-old says.

"They're marigolds, though - they're as tough as nails."

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Today's flowers are as brazen as Daphne a century ago as the girl who had mastered scaling the back fence in sneaky shortcuts to art class.

Horse-drawn to school in Tallwood, south of Orange, she kept a close eye on her two younger brothers in the sulky.

"I was the eldest; I was the boss," she said.

Her parents managed a farm and grew vegetables while selling eggs for sixpence a dozen.

Mrs Meyer has always cherished time outdoors, especially the vivid lilacs and butterscotch yellow blends of flowers in bloom.

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"Everything in the garden seemed to be loved," she said.

"My mother would always put a lovely cloth over the old table in the kitchen after lunch - a green cloth - and we'd always have fresh flowers.

"I think the garden keeps you sane; [it] puts joy in your life."

The secret to living, she said, is laughter.

"That's what makes the world go 'round."

International Day of Older Persons was 2023 on Sunday, October 1.

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