Eric Munn has more get-up-and-go than people half his age and that’s saying something, given that he turns 100 in just a few days.
The Caloundra man keeps himself fit and social by walking the 500 metres from his home, across the four-lane Bowman Road, to Caloundra Shopping Centre most days to meet up with friends for coffee.
The walk takes him seven minutes – a daily ritual he’s managed for 31 years since he lost the love of his life, wife Freda, in 1992.
Eric and his mates – some also in their mid- to late-90s – has become more than just a familiar face among the business owners, staff and customers.
His cheeky sense of humour and happy disposition has endeared him to all – so much so that Donut King and the shopping centre management are planning a special celebration on his birthday.
And Eric is lapping up the attention.
Did he ever think he’d be a centenarian?
“No, I never thought that far ahead,” he quipped.
“I just take every day as it comes and give everybody a smile – it makes their day.
“I’m still around and I’m still kicking. Well, I’m just kicking occasionally.”
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Born in Tinana, Maryborough, on July 17, 1923, Eric has managed to pack plenty of life into those 100 years.
He did his schooling in Brisbane until moving to Yandina in 1941 at age 18 when his family took up dairy farming.
A year later, he was called up to join the army engineers in various locations in Australia’s Top End to help in the war effort after the bombing of Darwin on February 19, 1942 (the largest single attack on Australian soil when 242 Japanese aircraft made two separate raids on the harbour, town and airfields).
But by that time, he had already met his sweetheart Freda Rutch, whom he married on May 24, 1943, in Yandina.
“She was a netball player and I was rugby league footballer,” Eric remembered fondly.
“The girls and the men would go to Palmwoods or other local places and play.
“That’s how I fell in love with her. She caught more than my eye.”
Eric returned home to Freda in 1944 when he was discharged as an essential services worker, helping out once again on the family dairy farm.
With daughters Sandra (born 1948) and Janet (born 1950) in tow, the happy couple moved to Caloundra in 1952.
Eric undertook a variety of roles including brickmaker and sawmill hand until becoming a linesman for the PMG (later known as Telecom and Telstra) in 1956.
He retired from that career in 1988 after 32 years.
Fitness and friendships have always been part of Eric’s DNA, and he made quite a name for himself in cricket, badminton and social golf in Coast sporting circles.
In retirement, he also did volunteer work for Blue Care’s The Glebe – only stopping when he gave up driving at age 90.
“I was still mowing my own lawn then, too, and doing the gardening – chopping wood and everything else and climbing up banana trees and chopping them all down,” he added.
Son-in-law Rod Evans admits Eric is “an active little beast”, still living alone and walking up Caloundra’s main thoroughfare, Bulcock Street, to access shops and services.
These days, he has the lives of his extended family of four grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren to catch up on but he always looks forward to his coffee mornings.
“Sometimes they put two tables together,” Eric said of the boisterous gatherings.
“As a rule, we have anything from four to six. That includes both sexes.”
What do they talk about?
“You’ll have to come down and join us and find out. You’d be surprised,” he laughed.
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Rod, who is married to Janet, remains impressed that his father-in-law has kept himself motivated to join the group for more than three decades now.
“They’re all terribly social and it’s all the passing parade of people who know him and know them,” he said.
“And there’s a lot of backchat and carry on that goes on, pretty well every day.”
That wicked sense of humour came to the fore when Eric was about his secret to longevity.
“Three scotches every afternoon before tea,” he quickly responded.
“Half-past four, the cork comes out.
“If there’s family and friends around here, they’ll be lucky to get one.
“Chivas (Regal), Dimple, Grant, Jameson (Irish) – all of them.
“I don’t like Johnnie Walker.
“I don’t mind a cheap one as long as I can’t see the label.”
He’s done his fair share of travelling and trips, but being surrounded by family and friends is what makes Eric the happiest in his twilight years.
“I think it’s the way I approach people to a certain extent,” he said.
“I just take them on their looks and whatever they are like. And the people I meet, they seem to all be happy.”
Caloundra Shopping Centre manager Nathan Copsey said Eric’s big birthday celebration would feature a cake and banner, plus coffees supplied by Donut King.
“Caloundra Shopping Centre is a meeting place, a social hub, and for our local resident Eric, the strong relationships he has formed with customers and retailers (now friends) at the centre are a contributing factor to his amazing health,” he said.
“Friends make life more enjoyable, and we’re thrilled to have Eric as one of ours.”
So is there anything left on Eric’s bucket list as he waves the bat for a century?
Eric thought for a moment before answering: “No, I don’t think so – as long as I can just keep going the way I am and make the girls (my daughters) happy.”
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