A deep love for dance and close connections with family have helped colour Mela World’s 100 years.
Mela celebrated her 100th birthday on January 25 with family and friends at Westhaven Community aged-care in Footscray.
The eldest of four siblings, she grew up in the eastern suburbs, but has happily settled into Footscray to be closer to family.
Grand-daughter Ellen Spalding said Mela still enjoyed her regular jaunts to local shops and cafes.
“There’s lots of enjoyment in that simple stuff, enjoying Footscray,” she said.
Ms Spalding credits her grandmother’s longevity to keeping active.
“She’s always been incredibly active – dancing has been a really big part of her life,” Ms Spalding said. “She was an incredible gardener, a great cook, handy at making things and selling it at markets.”
Ms Spalding said her grandmother had always been a strong and positive person.
“It’s all about family,” she said. “As things have dropped off in her life, what’s left is just this love for her family that gets purer and purer.”
Over the course of her life, Mela has become a mother to two children, grandmother to three grand-daughters and now a great-grandmother to two great-grandsons.
“We’re a close family – she’s a beautiful grand-daughter,” Mela said of Ms Spalding.
“I love her very much, but she’s a bit of a tell-tale.”
