Fernande Courtoy is the new oldest Belgian. Aged 109 and living in a nursing home in the Charleroi region, she told Belga News Agency on Monday that it was never her ambition to live so long.
“I pay little attention to the passage of time, other than at certain moments when I say to myself: ‘Oh yes, look, I’ve already reached this age'," she said.
Fernande Courtoy was born in Thuin on 4 July 1914, just a few days before the outbreak of the First World War. In the 1930s, she went to university, obtaining a degree in pharmacy then marrying a few years later.
“My husband was a chief engineer in the coal mines. He told me he earned a good enough living and that I didn’t need to work,” Ms. Courtoy recalls. Determined, she nevertheless became a pharmacist after the marriage of her three children, working in a pharmacy that she managed in downtown Charleroi. “At 65, I had to stop, but I continued to do replacements for several more years,” she adds.
The new doyenne is undecided as to whether she had a “happy” life. “A normal life I’d say, but not an unhappy one, that’s for sure,” she says.
Over the years, Fernande Courtoy had the opportunity to travel on several occasions, even spending a few days in faraway countries such as China or Thailand.
Known for her determination among those closest to her, Fernande Courtoy is not sure whether this character trait should be seen as the reason for her longevity.
The new doyenne is not against living for a few more years “but only if my health continues to be there.”
Until last February, she was still living in her own home.
Fernande Courtoy had three children. She now has seven grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-granddaughter.
The former oldest Belgian, Magdalena Janssens, died on 18 September at the age of 111.
