December 4, 2023
Wondai resident Margery Hutton was joined by family members and friends at the Wondai Hotel at the weekend to celebrate her 100th birthday.
The big family celebration was held on Saturday, with about 75 people joining in; while Margery enjoyed a smaller morning tea on Sunday (her actual birthday) with friends.
Margery, nee Freeman, was born in Miles but grew up on a soldiers settlement farm in Theodore.
Son Neil told southburnett.com.au his mother went to school at St Ursula’s in Yeppoon, but left early to become a teacher.
“It was during the war and she was pulled out because there was a shortage of male teachers,” Neil said.
She taught at a one-teacher school at Kogan.
When she married Les Hutton, the rules at the time meant Margery had to stop teaching.
The couple raised four sons: John, Max, Drew and Neil.
“Mum and Dad had a butcher shop in Chinchilla,” Neil said.
When the rules relaxed, Margery went back to teaching, this time in Chinchilla.
After the couple retired, they moved to Toowoomba and then later Wondai, where two of their sons were living.
Les died in 2002.
These days, Margery lives at The Laurels in Wondai.
