Meet Member Arthur Dreverman

01 Sep 2018

Centenarian, and long-time Probian, Arthur Dreverman has been recognised by his local council.

Ku-ring-gai Council recently recognised Arthur Dreverman as the area “Oldest Living Old Boy” at a function on Tuesday March 20 at the Turramurra Uniting Church Hall. Arthur, who has been a member of Gordon Probus for three decades, was sanguine about the whole affair, saying that he hoped the event gave pleasure to others.

The long-time Probian says there is no secret to his longevity however. “Well I certainly didn’t expect it,” he says. “And I have no idea how I did it, I think my wife looked after me.”

Barbara Dreverman sadly passed away last year at “only 92”. The pair met while Arthur was serving his six years in the armed forces from 1944 to 1960; they were married in 1949.

Arthur served in the army’s engineering unit and moved around a lot, so he says he has no affinity with a single group or division so he tends to sit out Anzac Day despite being one of a small number of remaining WWII veterans but he remembers his time in the army fondly.

“I was a mechanical engineer employed on the maintenance of equipment, I joined after university and didn’t get out for six years” he says. “I served in Palestine and Lebanon and Ceylon [now Sri Lanka] after a stop over on the way home.”

Family is important to Arthur and he keeps in touch with his three sons, Ian, David and Graham, by Skype just one of the ways that technology helps Arthur in his retirement.

“I am reasonably computer literate, I do internet banking in fact you may have seen that the Westpac bank had an advertisement showing me using the computer,” he says. “They were looking for someone who was over 100 and was using computer banking, and they made a short film which they have been showing on the internet.” A quick google of “Westpac” and “Dreverman” will bring up the film of Arthur and Barbara chatting about banking past and present.

After the war, Arthur became an engineer with the Electricity Commission where he rose through the ranks to manage the Tallawarra power station in Dapto, which was one of the most modern power stations in Australia at the time.

Arthur retired in 1976 and just a short time later joined Probus. “I thought it would be nice to get out and meet people rather than just sit at home,” he says. “I meet people. I still go into my club in the city once a week and get out of the house. If I didn’t belong to something like Probus I would just fade away.”

Breakout:

Name: Arthur Dreverman

Club: Gordon Probus, NSW

Age: 102

Time in Probus: 30 years