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- LONG TIME LOCAL TURNS 100
Family and friends of long time York resident, Ernest Clifford (Cliff) Reynolds, gathered early last month to celebrate his 100th birthday. The gathering was at the old York Bowling Club on March 9 ahead of his birthday the following Monday.
Cliff was born on March 11, 1913, on ?Moudinary Farm? at Meckering, to Walter Reynolds and Rebecca Endersby. He was the fourth of eight children (six boys and two girls) and born prematurely. He was so small that his parents used a shoe box as a crib for him. Due to his premature birth he only has one functioning kidney.
He started school in Meckering at the age of six and left when he was 14 to work on the family farm. When he was 17 the farm was sold and the family moved to York. One of his first jobs was driving a bread van for FN Lancel. After that he worked with his two older brothers, Lloyd and John on farms around the district. The work included stooking hay from sun up to sun down.
On January 11, 1941 he married Evelyn Slater, who was born in York, to Hughie and Eliza Slater. At that time he was working as a rabbit trapper. They went on to celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary in 2006. Evelyn passed away in December that year.
They had six children. The first two were stillborn and the third died as an infant. These were followed by daughter, Judith who passed away in 2010. Son Graeme and daughter Marilyn Milner survive.
After working on the land, Cliff got a job as a mechanic at Ben Weston Shell Garage where Smith?s Shell is and was there for 11 years. He went to work for 10 years at Cal Bulloch?s Garage. His daughter Judith was working in the office and she asked if he would work there with her. After leaving Bulloch?s he worked from home fixing cars and going out to farms to do mechanical work. He did this until he was in his mid 70?s.
Cliff's sister, Winifred, married Norm Reynolds of Norm Reynolds Retravision - a Reynolds married a Reynolds!
In his younger days he was a champion rifleman and enjoyed success for many years at the York Gun Club and often shot at championship events at the Swanbourne rifle range. He was called up in WWII but was knocked back due to health issues.
He loves music, in particular country and western and watches old movies on DVD, especially those featuring John Wayne.
Cliff has eight grandchildren and nine great grandchildren. The most recent is Jamison Yeing who was born to granddaughter, Kerryn and her husband, Jamie on February 6, 33 days before his 100th birthday!
Information from Robin Milner [2]
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