AT Village Glen Retirement Living in Capel Sound, Francis (Ray) Kenny has celebrated a milestone not many get to say they’ve reached.
Ray turned 100 on 25 November and spent the day having a nice lunch out with his family. On the 23rd, friends and family gathered to celebrate his birthday in the Rainbow Room at the Village Glen.
Ray was born in Warrnambool in 1925 and raised in various small towns around Victoria as his parents moved from bakery to bakery.
“My mum and dad’s scheme was to buy a bakery business, and they’d work it up, and they’d sell it, and then buy another one,” Ray said.
When he turned 18, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and served as a signaller with the 2/27th Battalion in Borneo. After the war had ended, his battalion was sent to the Northern Celebes to free the Dutch Ambonese and locate remaining Japanese forces.
Ray’s decision to serve was instinctive.
“We were threatened with the Japanese invasion,” Ray said.
“So, you got out and did your bit.”
After returning home, Ray joined his family’s business and became an apprentice baker in Croydon. He spent ten years hand-mixing 150 pounds of flour in wooden troughs, hard-work which he remembers vividly.
He felt a calling to move on eventually, which led him to the Australian Board of Missions, where he worked as a regional officer in Newcastle. Later, he said something deeper drew him toward the Anglican ministry.
“I just felt God was steering me to it. That’s what He wanted me to do,” Ray said.
After training in Melbourne, Ray was ordained and spent 30 years in the ministry, working in Camberwell, Drysdale, Oakleigh, and Ringwood, before retiring in 1988.
When he was young, Ray spent two years boarding at Assumption College Kilmore, where his name now lies on a board honouring former students who entered priesthood. He is the only Anglican among a list of others who have become Roman Catholic priests.
Ray met his wife, Joyce, at a church youth group after he returned from the war. Together, they had four daughters, Christine, Judith, Gillian, and Suellen. Ray said he’s now lost track of the number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren he has. Joyce, who worked as a secretary at Haileybury Junior School, died in 2007.
“Joyce was a good mum and a good wife,” Ray said. “I think we used to have our ups and downs at times, but on the whole, we had a very happy, happy life.”
The pair shared a love of travel and spent years caravaning around Australia, as well as taking trips abroad to various places including the UK, Ireland, Greece, Hong Kong, and Singapore.
Ray and Joyce moved into Village Glen in 2002, where Ray has remained ever since.
“It’s great to live in this village,” he said. “It is, I would think, the premier village in Australia.”
He has lived alone since Joyce died, but said he couldn’t do it without his “wonderful” carer, Michelle, who comes by three times a week to help him shower, cook, and clean.
“I’m very fortunate to have her,” he said.
Ray spends his days reading, taking short walks, supporting the Geelong Cats, and hosting regular Friday morning coffees with three fellow residents and widowers.
He dedicated decades to Legacy, supporting widows and dependents of veterans, as well as being a long-standing member of Rotary and Probus.
“I just take each day as it comes,” he said, when asked his secret to reaching 100.
“God’s been very good to me. I’ve had my ups and downs, I’ve had my joys and disappointments, but we’ve always got there.”
Ray said he was excited to celebrate his birthday alongside friends and family and that he is on the lookout for his letter from the King.
“I’ve got no complaints about living,” he said. “I’ve had a good life.”
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 26 November 2025
