Cecil Moves into Aged Care at 102 Years Young

A Laidley aged care community’s newest resident is also its oldest resident. Not many people move into aged care after they turn 100, but Cecil Sempf recently joined the Carinity Karinya Place community at the age of 102 years. Cecil was born in Marburg on 3 November 1921 and has spent most of his life in the Lockyer Valley area.

Cecil left school at 14 to work on the family farm. He was always creating things when he was a child. The self-taught welder eventually started his own engineering business in Gatton, making farming equipment.

“I manufactured various types of machinery and equipment such as threewheeled tractors, seeders and planters, among other things,” Cecil sai

Additionally, Cecil constructed two boats – measuring 7.6m and 12m in length – for use in floodwaters.

Cecil married his wife Esme at St Augustine’s Church of England in Brisbane in 1949. The couple had two sons.

Cecil fondly remembers he and Esme touring Australia in a Holden vehicle, travelling up the centre of the continent and staying in motels throughout the country.

Cecil loves classic motor vehicles. He owned a 1964 Ford Fairlane before buying a Chevrolet, which was originally from California, a decade ago. Cecil displayed his vintage car at his first car rally at the age of 98.

Recently inducted into the Carinity 100 Club for centenarians, Cecil is the second centenarian to move into a Carinity aged care residence this year, after 103-year-old Olive Crawford joined the Carinity Hilltop community in Brisbane.

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