I’ve just come home to sit down and write this column after a busy weekend of community events. One of my favourites was dropping into Infinite Care Cornubia to visit a very special resident.
Joyce (Joy) Christie celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday and it was great to see she’s still knows how to shake a leg! She’s been dancing since she was three years old – that’s 97 years of dancing. Her younger sister said Joy’s dancing made her very popular with the boys too, but she wouldn’t share any stories that could get either of them in trouble!
Joy grew up in Montville on the Sunshine Coast before moving to Runcorn and eventually Mount Gravatt. Her son says, back then, it was “the middle of nowhere”. Joy moved to Logan after her husband passed, and it was beautiful to see 100 years of love on display with a huge gathering of family and friends coming to celebrate her century.
She worked at Lennons Hotel in Brisbane – which was “the” place for VIPs since it was built in 1884. Iconic guests included Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies, President Lyndon Johnson, US General Douglas MacArthur, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and The Beatles. In 1972 the building was knocked down and the venue was relocated to the Queen Street site it still exists on today, in Logan’s Economic Zone (or Brisbane – as some like to call it). She remembers her time there fondly for how fun and fancy it all was.
The changes Joy has seen in our region and the world in her lifetime are profound. When Joy was 16, Tiktok was something that clocks did. When Logan Shire was started by the Department of Local Government in 1978, Joy was 54!
The development that has happened had since then really is incredible. It’s no wonder we are the youngest and fastest growing city in the state. While we haven’t always had the best reputation, we’re doing everything we can to change that, and tell everyone what a great place Logan is to live and invest in.
Back to Joy’s birthday though – and what a wonderful day it was. Her love of dancing was on display and everyone one from her 90-year-old sister to her 9-year-old great granddaughter got involved.
Joy said her mother lived to 104 and she wants to beat that feat by sticking to her secret for a long and happy life: drinking a stubbie of Guinness very day!
Happy birthday Joy. I hope to see you at the next one!
