There must be something about the genes in Myra Gazelle's family.
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On Sunday, the Allambi Elderly People's Home Dimboola resident turned 104 years old.
She said she didn't have a secret to living a long life.
One of her sons, Geoff, still lives in Dimboola, and was with her on her birthday as residents celebrated Ms Gazelle's innings with pork roast and pavlova.
"Her mother Mabel McGrath lived to be 99," he said, "One brother died just after he retired at 66, and her other brother Diggory and her sisters Audrey, Mavis lived into their 90s."
"Her cousin Jim Stapleton in Echuca is 107, and he still plays bowls. He was driving 12 months ago until he found out he hadn't renewed his licence!"
Born in Linton near Ballarat, Ms Gazelle came to Dimboola when she was 16, to work in Dahlenburg's doctors surgery, taking over from her older sister Mavis when she latter got married.
With husband Ern, who died in 2001, she has had three children.
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She is a grandmother to eight, a great grandmother to 17 and a great-great grandmother to Levi, aged two, and Lockie, six months, both of whom live in Gisborne.
"We had four years in Ballarat during the war, and came back in 1946, when I was halfway through year four," he said.
"My Dad, Myra's husband, and his brother in law started the Holden dealership on Lloyd Street in 1949. Then in 1957 my uncle said Dad was no longer a part of it, so that busted up the family quite a bit."
Allambi's activities co-ordinator Charlene Kalms said Ms Gazelle had missed seeing her daughter Lanette, who lives in Queensland, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"She hasn't seen them since her last birthday," she said.
Ms Gazelle said she made sure she socially distanced: "I go into my room and stay there, I don't mix," she said.
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