The ‘Festival of Ivy’: Beloved Servicewoman Celebrates 100 Years

Ivy is an evergreen plant, and for Bolton Clarke Talbarra resident and centenarian Ivy Evans, it’s an appropriate name.

During WWII, Ivy worked as a member of Navy, Army and Airforce Institute providing food for the servicemen in WWII.

It was there she met her late husband David Evans, who was an Army Sergeant. They married in 1944 and enjoyed more than 65 years of wedded bliss, sharing their last year together in Bolton Clarke’s Talbarra retirement community where Ivy continues to live. 

Ivy went to work after completing primary school, doing jobs including working in an egg shop, at a canning company and as a maid for a doctor.

She was willing to try her hand at anything and later worked in her children’s school tuckshops before being employed as a housekeeper and nanny.

In retirement, Ivy and David enjoyed the simpler life – taking up travelling, dancing and lawn balls.

After moving in with her daughter in 2000, Ivy took up some new hobbies – spending time in the garden, cooking and helping with her grandchildren.

For her 100^th birthday on 27 March, Ivy celebrated with not one but three gatherings.

The “Festival of Ivy” began with a special high tea and concluded surrounded by more than 90 of her closest friends and family who came to visit from all parts of Australia. 

Ivy is the newest edition to Bolton Clarke’s centenarian club, which launched in 2017.

Find out more about Bolton Clarke.