Wearing his favourite red t-shirt that says “96 and counting”, Russell Parrish appears from his bedroom ready for our Weekly photoshoot and jokes he is like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis.
Funny, fit and humble, the spry nonagenarian then ushers us on to his apartment balcony in the Logan Campbell Retirement Village, pointing out the nearby obelisk on the summit of One Tree Hill.
The landmark now serves as a reminder to Russell of his recent remarkable feat –