Tasmania’s oldest person has passed away at the grand age of 108.
Jean Hutton, known as Hazel to her family, lived a long and full life, with her family sharing some of their favourite memories of her in the wake of her death.
Grandson Matthew Pope told ABC Local Radio that he would always remember the time he spent with his grandmother on Bruny Island, where she lived with her husband for as long as he could remember.
“My grandfather would come across, pick me up and the impeccable timing of Nan with her scones and pikelets were always ready as pretty much as the minute I arrived, coming out of the oven,” he said.
Pope said his grandmother was incredibly independent and only moved into a care home a couple of years ago.
“She’d still put a fruitcake together, still cook her slices every now and again,” he told ABC’s Jo Spargo.
“Towards the last probably 18 months to nearly two years prior to that, there was a lot of meals on wheels. But up until then, she certainly did all the cooking for herself.”
“Even lighting the fire. We had to really fight hard to talk her into putting a heat pump in the place.”
Pope said Hutton was legally blind for the last 15 years of her life, but was still sharp until the very end.
“Probably six months ago, I suppose, we started noticing the decline in her health where she’d float in and out of conversations,” he said.
Pope said his grandmother was aware of her status as Tasmania’s oldest person and was affectionately known as the “Queen of the place”.
“She knew she was the oldest and that a lot of people out there … all referred to her as the ‘Queen of the Place’,” he said.
