Obituaries
Mary Van-Gelder dies aged 108
Supercentenarian who was the “life and soul of the party”
December 22, 2025 11:22
Supercentenarian who was the “life and soul of the party”
December 22, 2025 11:22Said to have been one of only 27 people in the UK to reach the age of 108, Mary Van-Gelder who has died in Nightingale Hammerson House, just days after reaching her landmark birthday, was celebrated by family and friends keen to acknowledge her extraordinary and remarkable life. Van Gelder moved into the Hampstead care home in October 2023 just two weeks before her 106th birthday. There she was regarded as an inspiration and a beacon of warmth and resilience by everyone who knew her.
Born in London, Mary’s life spanned more than a century of change. She spent most of her life in Stoke Newington, working as a dressmaker in her brother’s factory in Hackney. She loved making dresses. Although she was very young during the First World War, she still remembered the sound of bombs falling on the city. Mary attributed her extraordinary strength and perspective on life to a simple yet profound philosophy: to accept life’s ups and downs with grace and dignity.
“Living kept me going,” she once said. “You must keep living even when the going gets tough. The Second World War was very hard for me and my family. It was five long years. I had a daughter, but she died tragically at 42. After my daughter died, I had to keep going. I couldn’t let myself go to pieces.
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“I realised it was too much for me to look after myself, so I decided to move to Hammerson House,” she said. “I’m happy here, this is my home now. I can relax and I know I will be looked after. It’s very jolly here and I like the quizzes – I do really well in the quizzes!”
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