Stanley Thompson says the secret to living a long and good life is “having a dog”.
The TLC Aged Care Wallington resident turned 100 this week and said his best mate over the journey was a black cocker spaniel named Donnie.
Stanley’s other secret is to “just keep going, don’t give up”.
As child, Stanley lived all over Victoria, with his family moving around a lot because of his father’s job as a railway engineer.
He lived in West Melbourne, Navarre in the Wimmera region, Skipton in the Western District of Victoria, Ballarat and Beechworth in the north-east of Victoria.
Stanley completed his higher education at Beechworth.
He loved sport and played tennis, cricket and golf. His first job was selling golf balls at the local golf club.
After living in Coleraine for a short time, Stanley moved back to West Melbourne and boarded in King Street.
He worked at the North Melbourne Railways cleaning carriages.
He then went to the Newport Workshops to do office work and that’s where he met his wife, Beryl Pettitt.
Beryl lived opposite and they played tennis together. They married in 1942 and their daughter Elaine, was born in 1949.
Stanley worked at the State Electricity Commission the city in the early 1960s doing clerical work.
After a day at the office, he would come home and study accountancy every night until he became a qualified accountant.
Stanley and Beryl moved and lived only a few blocks from Princes Park in Carlton, so it was inevitable they would follow the Blues.
The family went to every match standing in the outer rain, hail or shine. Stanley made Elaine a stand to see the games better, which consisted of a broom stick with a seat on top that he would rest against his shoulder.
After their tennis days ended, Stanley and Beryl started playing lots of golf.
Stanley was a single figure golfer and taught Beryl how to play.
They were members of several clubs in Melbourne and after moving to Ocean Grove in 1973, they joined many clubs on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Stanley is still a member of East Geelong and only stopped playing six months ago.
Stanley worked at Blue Circle in Geelong for seven years before retiring from accounting at the age of 60.
They lived in Ocean Grove for 10 years before moving to Newcomb in 1983.
Stanley also loves his vegie garden and every visitor always went home with either tomatoes, carrots, beans or rhubarb.
