Tears of joy as Myaree woman celebrates 100th

13 Dec 2013

By Matthew Biddle

Rose Di Stefano turned 100 on December 8, just one day before the Archdiocese of Perth celebrated the same milestone.

Rose Di Stefano was joined by family, friends and parishioners of Pater Noster Catholic Church in Myaree on December 8 as she celebrated her 100th birthday.

Rose’s only daughter, Angela Allen, who has been taking her mum to Mass every Sunday for many years, told The Record it was a happy occasion.

“It was just beautiful, they sang Happy Birthday to her, she received flowers and all these greetings, it was just amazing. She said she felt like royalty yesterday,” Mrs Allen said.

“She had a wonderful day yesterday, a lot of us were quite emotional at church when Fr Joseph gave her the flowers.”

After Mass, Rose and members of her extended family gathered for lunch.

“We went to Matilda Bay restaurant for lunch, there were 20 of us, and then she went to the Casino,” Mrs Allen explained. “She lost a little bit… but she had a lot of fun which was the main thing.”

Rose, who has five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, became the State’s oldest recipient of a cochlear implant last year. Her daughter said, apart from some minor vision impairment, Rose is in good health.

Rose was born in Italy in 1913, migrating to Australia with her parents soon after. She lived in Victoria for many years, where she married John.

Tragically, John died shortly after. Rose spent time living in Adelaide, before settling in Kardinya and, more recently, Attadale.

For more than 25 years, she has been a parishioner at Pater Noster in Myaree.

Mrs Allen said Rose was unaware that her milestone occurred just one day prior to the same mark being celebrated by the Perth Archdiocese.