When Edna Brasfield, 93, reminisces about her life in Australia during the height of World War II, she immediately brings you back to that moment in time when a young, charming Roy Brasfield swept her off her feet in a hair salon in Brisbane.

It was 1943 and Edna was 21 and working in the instrument shop at Australia National Airways. Just across the way was an American military base where Roy happened to be stationed. Brasfield remembers going to the nearby shops on her breaks. Often on a Friday she would get her hair done. It was on one particular Friday at the hair salon that she met her future husband.

“The next day he called me to go down to the beach on the train,” she said.

It was Jan. 2. Six months later the two were married in Brisbane on July 25, 1944.

“After the war, (Roy) was shipped home,” she said. “I didn’t come (to the U.S.) until the next February.”

The couple settled in Tillamook, Oregon, where her husband worked in distribution for The Oregonian newspaper for a year. Then they moved to Richland, Washington, where they made their permanent home and raised three children: Marilyn (who was born in Australia), Cindy and Scott.

Brasfield was born on Feb. 11, 1922, on a sheep farm in Rockhampton in the state of Queensland, Australia, 200 miles north of Brisbane.

“My father came from England and my mother came from Scotland,” she said. “My mother’s family was wealthy. They brought Merino sheep to Australia.”

This was at the turn of the century. The Merino sheep wool was imported to other countries.

Brasfield remembers always working from a very young age. One of her earliest jobs was as a seamstress in Australia. This was a skill she continued into adulthood and used to great effect making dresses for her two daughters.

“She was an excellent seamstress,” said Cindy Ducich, Brasfield’s daughter. “I didn’t have a store-bought dress until I was in junior high.”

In 1960, Brasfield started a career at the Bon Marché store at Richland’s Columbia Center. She worked retail for 22 years.

Throughout her life, Brasfield always kept very active and still does.

“I played tennis for exercise and I did lap swimming,” she said.

She loves to watch tennis and recently watched the U.S. Open. She also loves to watch soccer and even loves a little reality television, always catching Dancing with the Stars on Monday nights, Ducich said.

Another passion of Brasfield’s is gardening. While in Richland, she was a member of a rose association and received many awards for her beautiful roses.

“People would always knock on my door and ask if they could pick a bunch of roses,” she said.

Brasfield would kindly say, “No.”

Her husband, whom Brasfield was married to for 64 years, passed away in 2008. In August, 2014, she moved to Federal Way and found a new home at Village Green.

Lisa Valdes, manager of Village Green retirement campus, said Brasfield is a delight.

“(Edna) is a very sweet lady and makes friends easily,” Valdes said.

Brasfield said she enjoys being a grandmother to her five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. She will turn 94 this February.

The secret to longevity? Activity and a positive attitude, she said.

“My cup is always half-full, not half-empty.”

Edna Brasfield and her husband Roy. Contributed photo