Proudly independent, she renewed her license a day before her 99^th birthday on Thursday.

“I still have my marbles, I still drive and I live by myself,” Joy said.

“I hope I never lose my independence; it’s most important when you’re living out here because there’s no special transport.”

At her birthday celebration, surrounded by dozens of friends from the Greenwell Point Bowling Club, she shed a tear as they bowed their heads for grace before lunch on Thursday.

“I am a bit emotional today,” she said.

“I hadn’t realised I had so many friends that would come.”

At Greenwell Point, Joy’s regarded as a good friend and an ambassador.

“Joy is a total lady, she belongs to an era that has passed by,” Bowling club secretary Helen Hastings said.

“She’s past the days of white petticoats and stockings but she’s always neat and tidy, she wears her hair up and she wears the uniform with pride.”

Joy served in the army in World War II as a signaller in QLD.

She moved to Sydney after the war, married, had three daughters, and went back to work as a milliner, and later, at her husband’s printing company.

Joy loved the fast-paced life she led in Sydney, and the vast array of entertainment at her finger tips.

“We came down here to retire, it’s a man’s paradise,” she said.

“It’s hard leaving three daughters, you do these things if you want the marriage to work.

“This bowling club is the best thing that ever happened to me here.”

She watches the women bowl whenever she can, and stays sharp at home.

“I read, I watch the news a lot, that is very important,” Joy said.

“At the end of the afternoon, I watch Bold and Beautiful.

“My daughters ring me twice a day, morning and night, to make sure I’m still there.”