WHEN Freda Gynes was born, the First World War had not started. Yesterday she marked the 10 decades of incredible change she has witnessed, with a slice of birthday cake and a family get-together.
Mrs Gynes, who lives in Cherwood House care home near Bicester, was visited by her family, who brought her a special 100th birthday cake and a card from the Queen to mark the occasion.
Her son David said: “I think she is very surprised to have reached the age of 100 more than anything else. She had a pretty hard life. She was born just before the First World War and lived through the Second World War. It is a pretty dramatic upward curve in technology that she has had to live through, but I think she has coped very well.”
She was born Freda Busby in Gloucestershire but moved to Oxford to work in domestic service.
In 1939 she married Joe Gynes, who died in 2008, and they lived together in Iffley Road and Headington. Mrs Gynes also has another son Rick, two grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
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