Dear Friends & Well-wishers
We are delighted to share the good news, that one of very our own became a centenarian today – Saturday 13thApril 2019 and received a congratulatory message from Her Majesty The Queen.
Soonnie Godrej Talati was born in Mumbai on the 13th April 1919, Shahenshai Mah Ava Roj Aspandarmad 1288YZ, to Dadiba and Bacha Mehta. Like many of us Soonnie aunty also follows the Shahenshai Zoroastrian calendar, hence Soonnie aunty already became a centenarian on Tuesday 19th March 2019!
Soonnie aunty went to Parsee Tutorial High School and later completed Pitman’s secretarial course. Her mum’s family (Gorwalla) lived in Karachi which was then part of India. She has happy memories of her childhood holidays there with her Karachi cousins.
After her marriage in1947 to Godrej Talati, Soonnie aunty moved to Nairobi in Kenya to begin a new life in a foreign country where she brought up her 4 children; Pheroze, Sarosh / Shahrukh (twins) & daughter Meher. From Nairobi the family moved to Kisumu on Lake Victoria and then to the coast of Mombasa.
In 1968 Soonnie aunty moved to England and settled in Perivale, Middlesex, and as with the move from India to Kenya she took to her new life in the UK in her stride. She enjoyed activities in the local community participating in swimming, sewing, knitting, keep fit, French & music classes and late in life even started a computer course in the local library which she visited frequently. Due to failing eyesight and mobility she reluctantly had to get used to a more relaxed life in her mid nineties!
Soonnie aunty is happiest when all her family get together in Perivale. She enjoys the company of her 5 grandchildren Rashna, Zenobia, Cyrus, Farokh & Yazdi and is very proud of her 4 great grandchildren Ria, Roxana, Shaya & Darius.
Darius was born in February 2019 – almost 100 Years after his great grandmother Soonnie.
ZTFE congratulates Soonnie aunty on this amazing milestone. We wish you a very Happy 100th Birthday. May every minute of your 100th Birthday be filled with everlasting joy and pleasure, surrounded by your loving family together with your children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
We in the ZTFE will be celebrating Soonnie aunty’s 100th birthday at the Zoroastrian Centre, during the Z Club on Thursday 18th April 2019.
Yours sincerely
Malcolm M Deboo
President, ZTFE
