Johanna Adonis, affectionately known as Aunty Annie, celebrated her 109th birthday on Friday August 5. Although her short-term memory has taken a knock and her legs are not as strong as they used to be, she hasn’t lost any of her feisty ways. When one of her friends in Belgravia Estate came over to wish her well for her birthday, aunty Annie asked her if she wanted an “oulap” (slang for penny) for that compliment. Ms Adonis was born in Greyton in the Overberg and moved to Cape Town when she was 16 years old. She worked as a domestic worker in Sea Point and met her late husband, Edward, there. The couple moved to Athlone in 1930. After her husband’s death in 1953, Ms Adonis lived alone in her Kewtown flat up until the age of 92, before her family convinced her to move the home of to her niece in Belgravia Estate. Ms Adonis was one of the six founder members of the Anglican Women’s Fellowship (AWF) at St George’s Church. She did not have any biological children, but has raised many of her extended family’s children. She was also a mother figure to many in her neighbourhood.
