Cousins Reg Ellis and Glad Larcombe celebrate their birthdays a week apart.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Cousins Reg Ellis and Glad Larcombe have celebrated a lifetime of friendship, family and birthdays, they were born just one week apart.
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For 95 years, they've marked birthdays, gathered around Sunday lunch tables, weathered devastating floods and built a friendship that has quietly outlasted almost a century.
“We've always got on really well together,” Mrs Larcombe said.
“It's always good to see one another.”
The joint celebration is nothing new for the pair, who have spent years marking the occasion together with family.
“We went and had lunch last Sunday for Reg's, and we're all going this Sunday for mine,” Mrs Larcombe said.
Mr Ellis said there were no elaborate birthday parties growing up.
“I can't remember ever having a birthday party because when I was younger, the war was on,” he said.
“It was more just family gatherings.”
Glad Larcombe and Reg Ellis at Reg’s family's place in Melbourne, long before moving to Rochester.
Photo by
JORDAN TOWNROW
Although they grew up in different circumstances, their lives often crossed paths.
Mrs Larcombe's family uprooted from Melbourne and settled in the Rochester district around 1941, drawn by the demands of wartime and the need for extra hands on the family farm.
Mr Ellis' family regularly visited Rochester for holidays before he made the town his permanent home in 1956.
Over the years, both witnessed Rochester's greatest challenges, including the devastating floods of 2011 and 2022.
Mr Ellis devoted 63 years to the motor industry, repairing engines and chains, while also giving generously of his time as a volunteer with both the CFA and SES.
Mrs Larcombe put in years of hard work on the family farm before taking up a position at Parsons, all while serving as a committed Salvation Army soldier.
Looking back over 95 years, both said life was simpler.
“I suppose we had a lot of friends, very little money, and enjoyed life,” Mr Ellis said.
He believes one of the keys to a long and happy life is simply getting out of the house.
“Spend most of your time outdoors,” he said.
“Yes, there's a lot to appreciate if we open our eyes,” Mrs Larcombe said.
Reflecting on nearly a century of living, Mrs Larcombe said one lesson from their generation remained as relevant as ever.
“I think we were brought up to respect people a little bit more than perhaps happens today,” she said.
“To me, it's how we treat one another. Everyone,” Mr Ellis said.
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