Jean Bickerton might be 100 years old, but she’s still got a great sense of humor.
When COVID-19 closed down her nursing home for months on end, she often joked with staff about being in jail, even though she’d never been arrested in her life. As a nurse who once served in World War II, the Victoria, Australia centenarian had lived a clean life, which she suddenly saw as rather boring!
“I said to them I’ve never been drunk and I’ve never been arrested, never lost my driving license and never had an infringement,” said Jean.
Apparently, she always wondered what it would be like to have handcuffs slapped on her wrists and be carted off to jail. As Jean’s 100th birthday approached, workers at the Narracan Gardens Residential Aged Care facility where she lives, started plotting to help her “get arrested” item crossed off her bucket list.
As Jean sat with her friends and family at her birthday party, three officers from Moe Police Station pulled up in their patrol car with lights flashing and made a beeline straight for the perp!
The three cops put handcuffs on Jean, which she actually seemed to enjoy, and took her into custody as her fellow residents cheered. Don’t worry… all of the residents had been briefed beforehand so they were in on the joke!
The Moe Police Department shared photos of the momentous arrest on Facebook.
“Now these kinda arrests, we’re happy to make,” they wrote. “For many, getting through life without being arrested is a pretty good run. An obvious one we would like to think. But for ex-nurse Jean Bickerton – who recently celebrated her 100th birthday, a good run in and of itself – getting arrested was on her bucket list.”
Jean thought getting arrested was a blast. She and her daughter later appeared on a popular morning show “Sunrise,” where Jean showed off her quirky nature and enduring wit.
“She’s got a really strange sense of humor,” Jean’s daughter said with a laugh.
Jean says clean living kept her out of trouble all these years, but credits clean eating for living to be 100. She only eats healthy food and limits her sugar intake, although we hope she made an exception for a slice of birthday cake. You only turn 100 once!
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