Victoria’s oldest woman, Mary Rothstein, died in her sleep yesterday aged 110.

Family and staff at the Caulfield aged home where she lived are warmly remembering the former milliner who made hats for the royal family.

Accordin to the JTA, she was the second-oldest Australian and was believed to be the second-oldest Jew in the world after Evelyn Kozak of New York City.

Mary Rothstein was born in Russia in 1901 and moved to London with her family when she was two.

She left school at 15 to become a milliner and made hats for the Queen Mother.

She married Joseph Rothstein in 1935 and had one daughter, Ruth.

In 1957, Mrs Rothstein came to Australia for a holiday and returned the following year to live in Melbourne, where she worked as a saleswoman at Myer for 15 years.

Ruth Cavallaro, 41, said her beloved grandmother was a progressive thinker who believed a career was just as important as having children and getting married.

Mrs Cavallaro said her grandmother enjoyed reading and keeping herself busy until the day she died.

“We’re Jewish and she used to try to come to as many festival meals at our house as she could, and she loved seeing her grandchildren,” she said.

“She was very modest about her age. She couldn’t understand why people made a fuss about it.”

(Source: Herald Sun / JTA)