Cobram resident Elfie turned 100 on Tuesday, September 15.
Photo by
Supplied
From wartime Germany to a cattle farm in rural Victoria, Cobram’s Elfriede (Elfie) Margarete Endicott has lived a century worth of stories.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Elfie celebrated her 100th birthday at Irvin House in Cobram on Tuesday, September 15 surrounded by family who travelled from as far as Queensland to mark the milestone.
Born in 1926 in the Free City of Danzig, located in northern Poland, she grew up as the middle child alongside her brother, Deter, and sister, Irene.
At around 18, as World War II consumed Europe, Elfie and her family fled Danzig to Germany.
Her son, Francis, said his mother’s family feared the Germans, but were even more frightened of the Russians.
“Mum said that they had to do something because they feared the Germans, but they were frightened of the Russians more, so they fled into Germany, and that's where they lived,” he said.
After throwing coffee grounds on to a German flag, Elfie became a ward of the state and was forced to work for the Germans.
“They told her, ‘you either work for us or you go to a labour camp’,” Francis said.
“So Mum worked for them, and she was able to steal food and take it home to feed the family.”
Cecil and Elfie Endicott in the 1970s.
Photo by
Supplied
Fluent in five languages, including Russian, Polish and German, Elfie worked as an interpreter for the Germans.
After they were liberated by the British, she continued working as an interpreter for the British in the same office and depot.
It was there she met her future husband, an English solider named Cecil Francis Endicott.
“That's where she met Dad ― this cheeky Pommy soldier, and they hit it off,” Francis said.
Cecil would visit Elfie at her mother’s home, where her mother made sure the young couple had a chaperone.
“Dad used to go around and visit Mum at her mother's place and her mother used to make sure that the dog sat between them,” Francis said, laughing.
After the war, Elfie and Cecil moved to England, where they married in 1948, later migrating to Australia in 1953.
They settled on a cattle farm near Seymour, where Cecil worked as head dairyman while Elfie cooked for the workers.
The family moved to Strathmerton in the 1970s where they stayed until Cecil’s passing in 1992.
Elfie owned a dress shop in Strathmerton, where the bakery is now, and the couple used to go to dances every weekend.
Francis said they had their own little family band, with Elfie on the drums and Cecil playing the harmonica ― they would raise money for the Royal Children’s Hospital through dances they organised.
“When I was born, I was very sick with lung problems, and that was their way of putting money back into the Royal Children’s,” he said.
The couple were very community-orientated and always found ways to give back ― Cecil volunteered with the SES and Elfie with the Red Cross for many years.
They were married for more than 40 years and together raised two children, daughter Yvonne and son Francis, and now have six grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
11°C