Alice Prigg in her younger days.
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Contributed
The first thing you don’t believe when you meet Alice Prigg is how old she is.
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A Rochester native, Alice is still as sharp as a whip despite having just celebrated her 99th birthday on July 6.
Dates and names come readily for Alice, who still drives and does her own housework.
Alice was born in 1926, not far from where she lives today in Fraser St, Rochester, and has longevity in her genes.
She was one of seven children for locals Paul and May Rasmussen.
Her early schooling was undertaken at Minto, a district about 20km from Elmore just over the Picaninny Creek on the Elmore-Raywood Rd.
At the time, her father was working on the land there.
Alice had no secondary schooling and her first job was working at the Elmore Bush Nursing District Hospital.
Alice met her last husband, Donald Prigg, at a dance in Rochester and they married in the Methodist Church in Rochester in 1947.
They then went into dairy farming at a property at nearby Fairy Dell.
There they raised their three children: Jill (deceased), Daryl and Mark.
In 1956 Don bought a plumbing business in Rochester, which he ran initially with his two sons.
After their father’s death, Mark and Daryl carried on the business until recently.
Alice has experienced several major Rochester floods over the past century but has no doubt the 2022 drenching was the worst of all.
‘‘That was easily the worst in my time and the floodwaters reached places they hadn’t in the past,’’ Alice reflected.
Even then, Alice showed what she is made off.
The floods forced her out of her home but not her property.
Alice Prigg, a Rochester supporter for 71 years, turned 99 on Sunday, July 6. She tossed the coin for captains Nathan McCarty and Ben Hicks before the game between Rochester and Mooroopna on July 5.
Photo by
Bruce Povey
After a time living with her son Mark, her independent nature kicked in.
She bought a caravan, parked it in the highest and driest spot in her backyard and lived there for the next 16 months.
Alice is now back in her renovated home and doing everything she loves again, like following the local Rochester football team, which honoured her birthday by getting her to toss the coin in the recent Goulburn Valley League game against Mooroopna.
“That was a nice gesture from the club, which I really appreciated,’’ Alice said.
Aside from the floods, Alice rates the closing of the Saputo (former Murray Goulburn) milk factory in the town as one of the toughest things resilient Rochester residents have had to endure in her lengthy time there.
‘‘But we have always been able to bounce back,’’ Alice said, proudly.
And Alice’s tip to live a long life as she has?
‘‘Keep yourself busy and don’t worry too much,’’ she said.
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