105-year-old David Napper and his younger fellow centenarian 101-year-old Henry Harley, both live at Diggers Aged Care at Corrimal. The two have become great mates. They knew nothing about each other until they found themselves at Diggers. 

Henry still walks, but he uses a wheelchair to get around for any more than a few steps and it is not uncommon to see his mate David behind the chair pushing him to morning tea. The two are often seen together at Diggers in the dining area and sitting side by side on bus trips. They enjoy each other’s company. 

Despite different backgrounds, they share moments that can only be understood by a fellow centenarian. Just over 12 months ago, Henry celebrated his 100th birthday and was heading to the Lagoon restaurant to with his family. David walked up to Henry and placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder saying, “You made it mate, welcome to the club.”

Vikki Wilesmith, Lifestyle Manager at Illawarra Diggers Aged Care, has watched their friendship grow and seen the benefits for both men. “Positive relationships are important, especially for our mental health, and never more important than as we age. Friendships that are established in care can become some of the most important in our lives.”

David and Henry had different stories prior to meeting at Diggers. Shaped by major global events that took place during the early part of their lives, both lived through the depression and World War 2.

Henry was born at home in 1923, on Lippy Farm, Falkirk in Scotland. From the moment he could walk, he was working at the family dairy. 

“Life was hard on the farm, there was nothing but rain and more rain, it was muddy and cold,” says Henry. “The hardship created a powerful bond within our family.”

In 1956, sick of the rain and the mud, he emigrated to Australia and eventually ended up in Bega. It was at a local community event Henry met Kim, a single mother with four children. Romance blossomed, and they were married in 1963. They settled on a forty-acre dairy farm in Tanja and had another child, a daughter, Linda.

In the late sixties, he quit the dairy industry and started working at the steelworks in Port Kembla and moved to a home in Fairy Meadow. His beloved Kim passed away at the age of 80 in 2011. A year later, with the help of his daughters, he returned to Scotland for a visit. It was the first time in 56 years he had been there.

Living independently until he was 99 years old, he reluctantly decided to go into full-time care at Diggers. Now settled, with his older mate, he has no regrets about the move.

David was born in October 1918. He had six brothers – one his twin – two older and three younger. His father, Clarence, was in the produce business. He plied his trade with a horse-drawn cart, and his mother Lily was a homemaker.

“Mum worked bloody hard, there was seven of us boys and Dad. Cooking and mending clothes was a full-time job, especially during the depression and the war years.”

He grew up in what was a typical home of the era – a two-bedroom brick house in Rockdale, parents in one room, the youngest child in the other and the rest sleeping on bunk beds on the veranda. David’s childhood was the standard fare for Aussie kids from the time, cricket, kites, and billy carts. High School days meant a punishing travel routine from Rockdale to Hurlstone Agricultural College involving three different trains and ninety minutes each way.

David served in the Army in the war but was never posted overseas. He had two roles: one was chauffeuring the Colonel and the other manning the searchlights and the anti-aircraft guns in the pylons at each end of the Harbour Bridge.

He met and fell in love with Peggy at the Uniting Church in Rockdale. She was thirteen years younger than him. After a brief courtship, they were married in the same church. He was thirty-three years old. They purchased their first home in Brighton for the modest sum of three thousand pounds ($6,000) and ended up taking over his father’s produce business.

David and Peggy had two children, a son and daughter, Verlee and Kevin, five grandchildren and four great grandchildren – “the tribe brings me much joy.”

Following his surfer son Kevin to the Illawarra, David claims that he almost lost the will to live when his beloved Peggy passed away after over 60 years of marriage.

He has enjoyed an extraordinarily healthy life; he’s only ever had one hospital visit. A year ago, he had a fall and broke his collar bone. Despite his relatively good health, it was David’s decision to go into care.

“Diggers was the right choice for me. I knew it the second I walked into the place.”