Hundred-year-old Rita Galea’s face lights up when she is reminded that she was a nurse – an emotionally demanding job she cherished throughout her life.

“You’re bringing up so many memories. My mother wished for me to become a nurse. I loved being a nurse. At first I was scared, but I stayed on,” she says. Rita sits on a wheelchair in front of a table decorated with birthday cards and flowers at Jasmine Nursing Home where she celebrated her 100th birthday on Monday.

Rita was born on March 2, 1920. The eldest of three children, she lived with her parents in Qormi and, as they aged, she looked after them. Both her siblings passed away.

Rita never got married, and is quick to say, “I didn’t want men in my life… I was always alone.”

But she was never really “alone”. She was very close to her late cousin Ludgarda Brancaleone, whose children remain close to their beloved “Auntie Rita” who they describe a “very kind”.

I didn’t want men in my life… I was always alone

Ludgarda’s daughter, Catherine, recalls Rita’s nursing days at St Luke’s Hospital and then later at St Vincent de Paul.

“I remember her telling me she used to cry when she was based in the gynae ward and saw women lose their babies. In the beginning she was not sure she would cope,” Catherine recalls.

As a child, Catherine sometimes slept at Rita’s house and, on a Sunday, Rita would take her to work with her.

“She caught the bus. We’d stop by a particular coffee shop to buy cheesecakes for her patients. They loved her,” she recalls adding that Rita was also loved by students as she had some duties in schools.

She was a beautiful woman and some called her ‘Rita Hayworth’ after the popular American actress of the time.

Rita lived alone in her Qormi home until she was 96 – when she moved to the nursing home. There she loved playing bingo with other residents, who joined in her birthday celebrations.

Rita’s blue eyes glisten and open wide when she is reminded there will be a tea party to celebrate her birthday.

“Thank you, thank you,” she says as she blows a kiss to the photographer and says: “I’m lucky to be turning 100. Thank you Jesus. I love you.”