The oldest known Dassie in South Africa and worldwide Sally Storkey turned 90 on Saturday 20 June.
Her birthday was celebrated at Libertas Retirement Centre in Goodwood with residents, family and friends.
Sally’s 90 years have been a life of sadness, drama, intrigue, fun and laughter. All of which were remembered and celebrated at her party.
In 1943, at the age of 11, Sally was removed from her family home and taken to Tiverton House in Wynberg on Christmas Eve.
She spent Christmas in this place of safety with her elder and younger brothers (Willem and Martin Lucas).
She spent the rest of her junior school years in Kimberley at the Newton Orphanage and was then transferred to HS Van der Walt in Paarl to complete her high school career.
The Dassies
Among her friends were the Dassies of Cape Town. The Dassies are a unique group of girls that attended HS Van der Walt High School in Paarl.
The school operated from 1915 to 1992 and was a hostel for children who were removed, by the government, from their families for several reasons.
Sally is currently the oldest known Dassie in South Africa and worldwide.
Sally met her future husband Basil Storkey while in school in Paarl and after graduating in 1950, married him in 1952. They remained married for 55 years before he passed away in 2007.
First female real estate agent in the Northern Suburbs
Despite the hardship and loss, Sally was also the first female estate agent in the Northern Suburbs when she started her own real estate agency Sally Storkey (Pty) Ltd. It was in the 60s before you needed to write exams to sell a property. There was a time she sold 21 properties in 1 month.
In the 70’s she moved to the Southern Suburbs where she ran a successful second-hand furniture store, Tokai Furnishers.
Sally had the guests howling with laughter when she interrupted her daughter, who was giving a toast in her honour, to announce her niece has a guest house in Langebaan and her hairdresser is also present. Proving that even at 90, if you have business acumen, you never miss a chance at free advertising. She also thanked all her Libertas friends announcing “Libertas is tops, thank you Libertas, you are all tops”.
‘True inspiration’
It would seem that life begins at 90.
Lizel Storkey, Sally’s daughter, organised the surprise party.
She contacted friends and family a few weeks prior – amongst those she contacted was Maryna Ontong.
Maryna is also a Dassie & a few years ago she arranged a reunion for all the Dassies – she went to various radio stations, online sites etc & collected names of old pupils.
“Mom heard the advert & asked me to contact them. Maryna then assisted in arranging a group of local Dassies to attend the party & she arranged a collection from Dassies out of town so that they could spoil her on the day.”
Storkey said her mom is a true inspiration.
“She sees adversity as a way to learn & find a new opportunities. She faces life challenges head-on and embraces each one fully.”
Love, honesty, trust and hard work is considered Sally’s mottoes – not only in words but in action.
