And as she celebrated her 100th birthday at Greenhills Country Hotel this week, Idrys Buesnel said the key to a long life was hard work.
Mrs Buesnel said that running the Hotel Sandranne, alongside her late second husband Robert, gave her plenty of things to do.
She said: ‘I performed the front of house duties and my husband was the chef. Before the hotel, we owned Bobby’s Milk Bar at the Dicq.
‘I also worked for British European Airways and I was the first ever telephonist in Jersey, based at the central exchange,’ she said.
The mother-of-two, who has three grandchildren, has spent all of her life in Jersey, including during the Occupation.
Speaking about the five years under German rule, she said: ‘My first husband was asked to stay on in Jersey during the Occupation to work as a chemist at the hospital.
‘Everyone was leaving, but he was asked to stay on in Jersey to administer the Island’s stocks of medicine.
‘I stayed here with him as it was only expected to last for around two months, but of course it lasted for around five years.
‘He died in 1946 due to effects of malnutrition which he suffered from during the Occupation. There was not a lot of food around.’
Mrs Buesnel added: ‘After the war, everything changed.
‘Whereas before I would generally stay at home to look after the children, after the war, I worked.’
Idrys, who lives in St Saviour, was joined by a number of her family members, some of whom had travelled from as far as California and Switzerland.
The Lieutenant-Governor General Sir John McColl also attended the celebrations to present Mrs Buesnel with a card from The Queen and to deliver a speech.
He said: ‘It is incredible to think what she has lived through and what the world was like a hundred years ago.
‘She has lived through two World Wars, the Kenyan conflict, the Korean war, boom and bust and the advent of the computer. It is simply staggering.
‘To live to this age is a wonderful achievement.’
