Muriel is the second sibling to reach 100
A FORMER nurse will tomorrow become the second centenarian in her family – and she said her career represented a significant part of her life.
Muriel Michael was born on 24 July 1916, one of seven children.
Her sister, Clara, celebrated her 105th birthday last year.
She identified family and her career as the two major aspects of her life.
She was one of the few fully-qualified nurses working in the island during the Occupation.
'I've been nursing all my working life,' she said. 'I've been nursing from when I was 17 until I retired. I did six years of training and worked at the Emergency Hospital.'
Mrs Michael said it could have worked out differently had it not been for the advice of a former head teacher, who put her on the path to nursing.
After the Occupation she left Guernsey for the British Council in Nigeria, where she worked for 15 years.
It was in Africa that she met her late husband, Fred Michael, who was working in the same compound as her.
In 1968, following her overseas work, she was made an MBE for services to nursing. She said it was one of her proudest experiences.
