Former longtime Gawler resident, Mrs Margaret Edwards celebrated her 90th birthday with a lunch at the Southern Hotel on Saturday surrounded by family and friends.
Mrs Edwards was born in Beltana in the state’s north at the Australian Inland Mission Hospital and moved to Blinman when she was about 21 years of age, which just happened to be the town of her future husband, Colin.
While Colin’s family lived in Blinman, he spent time away in boarding school in Quorn. His mum did missionary work on the Old Ghan, and that is how she met Margaret’s mum, who was unwell at the time, resulting in Margaret spending some time living with Colin’s parents in Blinman.
Margaret recalls meeting Colin through mutual friends, then were engaged and lived in Blinman for two years after they married.
Colin and Margret lived and worked on Angorichina Station, and that is where their two children Elizabeth and Robert were born.
The family moved to Gawler in 1966, and Elizabeth attended Evanston Primary School, and that is where one of the guests at the birthday lunch, local MP Tony Piccolo first encountered the Edwards family.
Elizabeth and Tony were school friends at both Evanston Primary and Gawler High School.
Mr Piccolo said he has known the family for over 50 years, and during that time that both Colin and Margaret were very active in a number of community organisations.
Margaret and Colin lived in Sunnyside Drive, Evanston Park, for about 34 years on a big block, and later downsized to a new home in Theile Crescent, in the same suburb for 23 years.
Friends from Blinman and other states travelled to Gawler over the weekend to share in Margret’s special day. During the lunch, Margaret caught up with many of her Gawler friends, retelling a number of stories of activities they undertook together over the years and reminisced about her early days in Gawler.
Colin passed away in 2018 and in 2022 Margaret made the decision to move to Morphett Vale to be closer to her family and built a new circle of friends.