Elsie Audrain, née Pinglaux, was born at Corbière on 12 December 1915. Her father, Jean François, a Jerseyman who worked the land, had met her mother, Marie Julienne, after she came over from France to work in the potato fields.
By the early 1920s the family had moved to the east of the Island, where Elsie, an only child, attended Grouville School. On leaving education as a young teenager, it was inevitable that she would follow the family tradition into potato farming.
When Mrs Audrain was in her early 20s, the Second World War broke out and the family remained in Jersey throughout the Occupation.
After the war and as the tourism industry began to develop, Elsie began to combine farm work with working in hotels.
She married a chef, Ron Audrain, and gave birth to daughter Therese (Forshaw), who is 60 this year.
For many years the family shared a small cottage at St Clement’s Farm, and Mrs Audrain is proud to say that she continued to look after her father and mother in later life.
As well as bringing up Therese, she worked in hotels during the summer months, notably at the Merton and the Woodlands, and in the winter went back to helping out on the farm.
Following her retirement from hotel work, Mrs Audrain became a home help, often looking after people who were younger than herself.
Over the years she has enjoyed the company of friends made during the course of her work, and of relatives, particularly her cousin, Georgette, a French dressmaker.
Until the age of 98 Mrs Audrain – known as ‘Diddy’ because of her height – continued to live independently, cooking and looking after herself, always with a pot of soup at the ready.
She celebrated her milestone birthday at the Little Sisters of the Poor care home surrounded by members of her family, including daughter Therese, granddaughters Nicole and Isla and great-grandchildren Romy (3) and Barley (seven months).
