BY RACHEL FRASER
When it comes to standing strong in their resolve, Lorna Driscoll is an expert. At 75-years-old, Lorna can still be found six-and-a-half days a week serving customers and pumping fuel at the place she loves and refuses to sell for love or money.
A big part of her local community, Lorna has been serving on the Upper Hunter Shire Council for 29 years, and prior to opening the present establishment in 1978, she operated another service station for four years just down the road from the current ‘Driscoll’s Service Station Central Store Aberdeen.’
Her other passion is water divining, so in the summer if Driscoll’s is ever closed late in the day, you can be pretty sure that Lorna is off finding underground water deposits on local properties – a service she has been proud to provide for an impressive 59 years.
A jack of all trades, Lorna can sometimes be found painting, knitting or sewing out the back of the store if there’s a lull in between customers
There’s not too much that goes on in town that can get past Lorna, and Driscoll’s is her link to the community, giving her the chance to interact with everyone and stay involved.
“When you stop, you die,” says Lorna matter of factly.
When I asked Lorna why she stays she says “I just like doing it that’s all. I love the people.
“It keeps me active.
“My doctor said that she can’t believe I’m as good as I am for my age.”
As Lorna reminisces over stories of the past 40-odd years and gives insights into the local community, politics and the state of the world, it becomes obvious that what makes a place a cornerstone of the community is not the materials that it’s built from, but who walks through the doors and the stories those people have to tell.
Although several lucrative offers have been made to buy her business and property, Lorna has no intention of going anywhere.
She’s been running Driscolls for 43 years and can’t see any good reason to stop. She’s committed to her customers and believes that she can give them the quality and treatment they deserve.
This is the town that she loves, filled with the people she loves and a life that she is happy to lead.
At the end of the day, buildings come in all shapes, sizes and facades; the important thing is having a place where you can put down roots and have the freedom to live how you choose; a place that makes you feel at home, somewhere that you wouldn’t sell for love or money.
